Guardians of the World
by steamfan
Summary: When Jim Ellison holds his own press conference to undue the damage done by his Guide's self sacrifice many other Sentinels discover who they are and what they are capable of becoming.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything taken from any television series contained within this story. Only the plot is mine.

Warnings: There is the usual mangling of timelines due to using many different shows from different eras, some violence, and some shipping between different characters. I do not know how many different shows will be added to this universe. I'm starting out with the Sentinel and Due South.

Summary: When Jim Ellison holds his own press conference to undo the damage done by his Guide's self sacrifice, many other Sentinels discover what they are and what they are capable of becoming.

Very unusually for the 27th major crimes unit, all of the detectives were in the bullpen. They were gathered around watching the news broadcast over a small TV. Normally they wouldn't have been interested in news from halfway across the country, but what was being announced was far too familiar for them to ignore. James Ellison, a police detective from Cascade, Washington, was holding a press conference explaining that his friend, a college student who had declared himself a fraud, had only done so to protect both his life and his privacy. He was in fact the Sentinel that the earlier reports had said he was. All five of his senses were heightened; however, the publisher who had stolen the thesis had taken excerpts out of context, and had not released relevant information. That being; that all of the statistics had been taken from a jungle environment, rather than an urban one.

Detective Ellison stated that there are no jackhammers in the jungle and went on to point out many other things that would drastically change the outcome of any tests he underwent. "I have been tested under both urban and jungle conditions. My senses are more acute in a quiet environment than in a crowded and noisy one, just like anyone else's. In fact, my abilities aren't even that uncommon. About one in ten people involved with this country's Special Forces have at least one heightened sense. In the general population, it is more like one in a hundred. Everyone has heard of taste testers for wine and coffee. Perfume manufacturers have people who make a living with their sense of smell. The mechanic who can hear what's wrong with an engine is considered to have a gift and is someone garages are grateful to have. The only reason that I was the subject of this study was the fact that I have all five. That is a rare combination, nothing more. In fact, the object of this study wasn't that I have heightened senses; it was that my senses prove that an old myth was based on fact. Now, if you are an anthropologist that is some exciting stuff." Ellison shrugged. "To me, it doesn't matter much except that it brought me into contact with not only the best friend I've ever had, but one of the best investigators as well. Everyone has said how my being a Sentinel is what has made me the Cop of the Year for the past three years. That isn't true. What has made me one of the best cops this city has is my civilian partner, who couldn't be honored because he is a volunteer rather than a police officer. Blair Sandburg has an IQ the size of the national debt, is ethical beyond what many people would see as reasonable, has an inquisitive nature that just won't quit and deals with witnesses better than anyone I've ever seen. It is my hope, once Blair gets done suing the publisher and the others who were involved with this fiasco, he will be hired by the department so that I may continue to work with him."

"Jesus and I thought Big Red was the only one." Welch breathed.

"Yeah, him and his bat ears," Ray said. They had all seen the big Canadian cop pick up evidence in the strangest ways; tasting a fur to figure out it was a sea otter pelt, hearing conversations that should have been impossible, identifying things by their scent, and identifying things at an incredible distance.

"Do you think he has all five?" Huey asked Ray.

"Of course he does. This is Fraser we're talking about." Ray scoffed at Huey. There was no doubt in his mind that Fraser was one of these Sentinel guys. The only question was what they were going to do about it.

"Hey, Lieu; do you think you can call up this guy's captain? I'm sure Fraser would be willing to do his part to take some of the heat off another cop if he could." Ray asked. "Even if the Ice Queen won't let him, it might help this guy to know there's more like him out here."

"Your right Ray, this guy is taking a lot of heat right now. I'm glad he's a stand up enough cop to not let his buddy take the fall like that. But you better check with Fraser before you volunteer your partner for something that could get out of hand fast." Welsh pointed Ray out the door. Ray threw off a salute and ran out the door, headed for the consulate. Welsh headed for his office and his phone. There was something Ray didn't know that would make this call a little easier. He knew Simon Banks from a seminar for Major Crimes Units' department heads from all over the country. He had hated the seminar of course, but he had made some great friends that he still kept in contact with. Simon Banks was one of those friends. He put the call in to Simon's private cell number, knowing that the man would be bogged down with calls right now. "Hey, Simon, it's Harding Welsh over in Chicago. I know you're probably swamped right now, so I'll get straight to the point."

"Don't bother, Harding. I need all the relief I can get right now from the mayor, the commissioner and the like. Thank god I can get Rhonda to deal with the reporters." Simon relaxed back in his office chair. He knew Harding was calling about Jim's news conference, but didn't mind talking to a friend about it.

"Well, I was just calling to offer my support about this whole Sentinel deal. I think I got a guy in my department who's one. Well, he's the liaison for the RCMP, and one of the weirdest guys I know, but he fits the bill as far as I can see for this Sentinel stuff. I got his partner chasing him down now; to see if he and his boss with the RCMP would be willing to let him take some of the heat off your guy."

"How sure are you?" Simon asked. It would help Jim and Blair if another Sentinel was to come forward as long as he wasn't as crazy as Alex Barnes had been.

"Well, Big Red's always doing weird stuff like smelling and tasting the evidence. It gives more than one guy around here the heebie-jeebies, to tell you the truth. We're sure he has about four heightened senses. Touch is the only one we're not sure about. But knowing Fraser, he's got that one as well." Harding admitted. "I got no idea how to test for that or even if we should."

"You blindfold him, have him sit in a chair and identify things by touch behind his back. Just make sure it isn't something that is obvious and no one else can do it. Test some of your other men first. That's what Sandburg did, or at least the one test I saw." Simon told him. "If he passes, and you can get the ok, let me know. If we can find another Sentinel it will take the heat off Jim and Blair will be thrilled. One thing though, Sentinels are very territorial. Your man can't come to Cascade unless we know ahead of time and can make arraignments. I'm serious Harding. We did have an unbonded Sentinel come through here about a year ago. God, I never want to have that happen again."

"How bad was it? And what do you mean about unbonded?" Harding asked cautiously. He certainly didn't want to cause any problems for either Ellison or Fraser.

"Sandburg refused to bond with her and she killed him. I have no rational explanation for why he's still walking around; I'm just glad he is. The Sentinel ended up in the nut house. Honestly that was where Ellison was headed when Sandburg found him. I think Barnes had passed that point before she came to Cascade. Ellison and Sandburg bonded soon after that. The bonding I don't know much about just that a Sentinel needs to be bonded to a Guide. So tell me about your man, maybe I can give you a few pointers from here."

"Well first off, Fraser is from the Northwest Territories. That's about as isolated an area as you can get on the planet earth these days. He was born up there and never left home until his dad was murdered by an American hit man hired by a dirty cop. Fraser's old man was a Mountie too. Fraser tracked the hit man to Chicago, teamed up with my man Vechio, who had the case on our end of it and brought the dirty cop in. You never want to get this man on your tail. He will literally track you down to the ends of the earth and be happy to do it. The RCMP shipped Big Red back down to the consulate down here as a punishment. The red line is as bad as the blue one it seems. Personally, I'm glad. I like the guy, and he's brought up my stats like you wouldn't believe. He's a real oddball, though. He's an all truth, justice, and the Canadian way type of guy. If he wasn't so weird, the guys would call him Superman. He's got this deaf half wolf that follows him around. He treats the wolf just like another person; he even holds conversations with him. What's worse is the fact that he's got us doing it too." Welsh laughed. The first time he'd found himself talking to Deif, he'd startled himself, now it was almost expected. At least he wasn't fluent in wolf like Kowalski was. Watching his detective carrying on a conversation with the wolf like the Mountie was a bit mind bending, although the wolf was smarter than some of his men. "He spends half his time pushing paper at the consulate and the other half working with Vechio on Vechio's cases. They're the best team I've got. But they get into the weirdest cases! You don't want to know about the one with the fake ghost pirate ship, the submarine, the toxic waste dumping and the stolen gold shipment."

"Oh you don't have to tell me! It sounds right up Ellison and Sandburg's alley. I swear they can't go anywhere without something happening to them. And the more unbelievable, the more likely it is to happen to them." Simon shared a laugh with Harding over that. "Tell me about Vechio."

"Sometimes I think Ray Vechio fully wired and about half nuts. The kid's got a full blown case of ADHD that just won't quit. You practically have to hold him down to keep him in one place, and even then the only way he'll hold still is if he's run out of gas. At that point he usually passes out. The guy runs on instinct and the Mountie is the only one who can keep up with him. He's an ex-boxer, nothing big or professional but he's got the attitude to spare. He's also a skinny shit. He runs on caffeine and sugar and most of the time the Mountie is the only one who can make sure he doesn't forget to do things like actually eating real food or sleeping. It makes it tough to be his boss sometimes, especially if we get a difficult case. I dread the day the RCMP pulls their collective heads out of their asses and ships Big Red back up to Canada. If he's around I don't have to worry about Ray. The man can be the worst mother hen, and somehow it gets through to Ray when nothing else can."

"Does Fraser obsess about Vechio's health? Does he go a little crazy trying to take care of his partner from time to time?" Simon asked. If they were very lucky, Vechio was Fraser's guide and they had already done whatever that bonding thing was.

"Yeah, he does, especially if Ray is hurt. Most of the time the Mountie is the only one who can make Ray go to the hospital so I back him up. Then I let them drive each other crazy." Welch shook his head even if Simon couldn't see it. The only thing worse than one of those two recovering was the one who wasn't hovering over the one who was.

"I got one last question, Harding. Are the two of them practically inseparable off the job as well as on?"

"Yeah, they are. How did you know?" Harding asked suspiciously. He knew he hadn't told his friend that much about his oddest team over the years they'd known each other.

"It sounds to me like Vechio is Fraser's Guide. Sandburg has told me that it's pretty standard behavior for Sentinel and Guide pairs. I've seen that mother hen from hell attitude more often than I'd like to think about. Get Fraser tested for touch and I'll tell Ellison and Sandburg. If Vechio and Frasier haven't done that bonding thing, they'll know what to do about it. They'll also know if we're wrong or not. I don't want to get on a high horse and say a lot of stuff is fact when I'm only guessing. Sandburg is the only expert in the entire western world in this area, although I won't say there aren't some shamen out there who don't know more than he does. The main thing you need to know is never separate them, especially if one is hurt. They will literally go through anything and anyone who gets in their way to get to the side of their partner."

"That explains some stuff." Welsh said, remembering Kowalski doing more than one stupid thing to get to Fraser when Big Red was in a bad situation, like riding a bike through a window and jumping through a skylight.

"You also need to know that Ellison has some very strange reactions to modern medicines, so if Fraser gets hurt, you don't want to give him anything unless it is absolutely necessary. Sandburg has a long list of what can and can't be given to Ellison. If Fraser checks out I'll have him e-mail you a copy."

"Thanks Simon. You have no idea what that means to me." Welsh said, shuddering at the though of Fraser whacked out on standard meds. Thank god he hadn't been seriously hurt since Kowalski took over.

"You have no idea what you're getting into you mean. The more a Sentinel practices and gets control over his senses, the stranger things get. Good luck either way my friend," chuckling at the idea of Harding Welsh putting up with a similar pair to his own dynamic duo Simon Banks hung up.


	2. Chapter 2

Ray parked his GTO in front of the Canadian Consulate and ran up the steps to the front door. "Hey, Constable Johnston, I hope you have a nice shift." He said to the Mountie standing at attention in front of the building. He knew that the Constable couldn't answer him just like the guards at the Buckingham Palace in England, but he always felt like he couldn't just ignore whoever was stationed on guard duty. It was a lousy job but at least in this building the Mounties who had the duty could stand behind a fence, and he at least would always acknowledge that they were there doing a good job. Of course he couldn't imagine a Mountie not doing a good job at guard duty; even Turnbull could pull that one off.

Turnbull was as usual stationed at the front desk. "Hey Turnbull! How did your date with Frannie go last night? I saw a very happy lady in the station this morning!" Ray chuckled as Turnbull blushed. He couldn't believe that Frannie and Turnbull had gotten together, but the truth was they were very good together. He would make Frannie a wonderful wife when Ray Vechio got back from his undercover assignment. Frannie was determined that her brother would be there to walk her down the aisle. Every Sunday Ray added his prayers to hers and the rest of the Vechio's, although in a different church. It was one of the requirements of the assignment that he not run into any of Vechio's childhood friends and that meant avoiding the church that the family had gone to since before Ray Vechio had been born. He could pass himself off as a fellow detective passing notes between the family members or heaven forbid, as an officer responding to a call like on the day he'd met Fraser if he needed to, but he couldn't pass himself off as a Vechio there. That had been one a hell of a day with the fires and then driving Vechio's car into Lake Michigan. He still couldn't get Fraser to say the name right. Oh well, it wasn't like he was the best at remembering stuff like that either.

"Miss Vechio told me that she had always wanted to go to the opera but had never believed that she would be able to. I was very pleased to be able to escort her." Turnbull blushed again. He knew of course that this wasn't the real Ray Vechio, but this Ray Vechio was just as overly protective of Miss Vechio as if he were her real brother.

"Well she was all smiles today, so a heartfelt thank you from everyone she works with downtown. Is Fraser in his office or does the Inspector have him running errands or somethin?" Ray knew that the tickets for the opera had been the season passes ones the Consulate regularly bought to entertain visiting dignitaries. He was glad that Turnbull had managed to get them for Frannie for their date. His 'sister' had been walking on cloud nine and humming as she filed papers all morning.

"Constable Fraser is indeed in his office Detective." Turnbull said with his usual enthusiasm.

"Thanks buddy." Ray sprinted up the stairs to Fraser's closet of an office. He could see that once again his partner was bored to tears over the idiotic paperwork that went through any governmental office. Not that anyone else could tell of course, it was just that he had spent close to a year learning all of his partner's quirks and he knew what 'bored' looked like on the Mountie. "Hey Frase! I gotta talk to ya!" He leaned in the doorway. "It's about somethin official, so I need to see if you wanna do it. Then we need to run it past the Ice Queen." Ray jerked his thumb down the hall in the direction of the Inspector's office.

"What is it Ray?" Fraser asked. This wasn't usual, although it had happened rarely that the police department had needed for him to do something that had needed the Inspector's approval. He ignored the Ice Queen comment knowing that chastising Ray for it would only encourage him.

"Have you been watchin the news lately? That little blow up in Washington State about the super cop?" Ray fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket.

"If you mean have I seen the press conference where Blair Sandburg declared himself a fraud over a paper upon sentinels, yes I have Ray."

"Well, Jim Ellison, the Sentinel himself, just called a press conference of his own and said that his buddy only said he was a fraud because some publisher had stolen the paper and put the cop's life in danger. Kid's rep is restored and he's flying high for being such a buddy to the cop. But there is a lot of heat coming down on every body at their station house. I thought you might wanna help out a little cause I think your one of those Sentinel guys too and if we come out and say well, here's another one, it might take some heat off of these guys. But if you do we gotta run it past the Ice Queen."

"You believe that I am a Sentinel Ray?" Fraser asked in surprise. He absorbed the idea of a grad student sacrificing his career for a friend with ease. It was evident that the young man was very honorable, rather like his own partner.

"Frase, you got four outa the five for sure. All we gotta do is test you for touch and I'm sure you'll pass that with flying colors. All it comes down to is do you wanna do this or not. Cause if you don't wanna, it stops right here." He promised his friend. There was no way he was going to put his buddy up for this if he didn't want to do it.

"Ray I'd be more than happy to help in any way I can. But are you sure I'd really qualify? I really don't think that my senses are all that more acute than anyone else's." Fraser protested as he left his office and began to walk with Ray down to the Inspector's.

"Trust me Mister Bat Ears, you qualify."

Ray stood in front of Inspector Thatcher's desk and once again explained the situation. He'd said it so many times he was beginning to think that he'd still have it memorized when he kicked the bucket. "So you believe that Constable Fraser is one of these Sentinels? How sure are you Detective?" Inspector Thatcher was not apposed to getting some good publicity for Canada but she wanted to make sure that it wouldn't blow up in her face.

"Inspector, there is no doubt that Fraser has at least four enhanced senses. Knowing him, there is no doubt that his sense of touch is just as enhanced as the rest of them are. We just need to get him tested and Lieutenant Welsh is talking to the Captain of Sentinel Ellison in Cascade right now. We don't want to go ahead without your approval of course, which is why I'm here talking to you right now. This could mean a lot of publicity."

"What about your 'situation' detective?" Inspector Thatcher was a hard woman, but she did not have any wish to jeopardize a fellow police officer's life, even one as irritating as either of the Detective Vechios.

"This will mostly be going through you and the RCMP Inspector. I figure Lt. Welch and maybe a few of the people in the unit would give interviews and the like, but I can't be put in front of the camera for obvious reasons. I'll probably be put on vacation or something." He waved his hands around. "Besides, I haven't said anything because it's not for sure yet, but it looks like this assignment might be over soon. I wouldn't put in writing yet, but that's the rumor."

"Ray!"

"Don't get your mukluks in a bunch, Frase, it ain't for certain yet. For now we just keep going." Ray shot his partner a glare.

"Understood."

"All right, Constable get yourself tested and if you pass set up a meeting between myself and Lt. Welch to discuss exactly how we will go about the announcement." Inspector Thatcher said. "Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Fraser said and led Ray out of the office.


	3. Chapter 3

"I cannot believe you did that man!" Blair Sandburg waved his hands around and paced in front of his partner, Jim Ellison. The detectives of the Major Crimes Unit were well versed in many of the ways Blair and Jim had argued over the course of the last four years, but they had seldom seen Blair this upset. That was usually more Ellison's role. This time Jim was the calm one while Blair was ranting. It was a show stopping performance that Simon didn't think Blair realized he was giving.

"What you did was drastic, Blair. It worked and it got the press out of our faces, but there was no way I could let it stand." Jim calmly leaned up against the front of his desk and watched Blair pace. "It just wouldn't hold up, Chief. I've been way too sloppy over the years. It's only a matter of time before someone figures it out and this way, everyone knows just what kind of partner I have. I don't think it is any coincidence that half the station's departments were asking us if it was likely you'd stay on and if they could have you."

There was a low growling and protesting from the other detectives at this information. "'Not bloody likely mate.' 'Hairboy's ours.' 'Yeah, like we'd give up our professor'," came from all sides.

"OH HELL NO!" came from Simon Banks. "There is no way in hell I'm going to let you end up with another unit Sandburg. If they want you, they'll have to pay for the privilege." He grinned menacingly.

"But what are we going to tell the brass Simon? They're already going over Jim's cases." Blair said. Jim captured his agitated Guide and held him close.

From his position as a Guide burrito with Sentinel wrapping, Sandburg couldn't see the very same brass standing just outside the open door to Major Crimes. "We tell them the truth, Sandburg. That until your dissertation was completed we couldn't get Sentinel abilities admitted in court as fact. That was why the Juno case was thrown out. After that case we went over every case with a fine tooth comb to make sure that it would never happen again and we stand behind both of you. Neither one of you would ever jeopardize a case." Simon said firmly. "We let them know that as soon as you got your doctorate and the dissertation was an admitable document we were going to go to them and make all of this public. That way, we could have controlled the media frenzy. It wasn't your fault that the publisher got a hold of your unsubmitted dissertation and announced it to the media against your wishes. Besides, this media feeding frenzy has had one positive side effect. I just got a call from a friend of mine in the Chicago Police Department. It seems that the Liaison Officer to his unit from the RCMP is probably another Sentinel. If what I got from Harding is right his American partner is most likely his Guide. I told Harding how you had me run that test of Jim's sense of touch that one time in the loft. He's going to get back to me if the guy passes, but my money is on the Mountie being another Sentinel. The guy grew up in what Harding called as isolated an area you can find on the planet earth, and that's a quote by the way."

"We'll need to do the testing in a public forum, with other specialists there." This surprisingly came not from Sandburg but from Ellison.

"Are you sure big guy? We don't have to be there you know." Blair tried to give Jim a way out of meeting with the other Sentinel.

"We've bonded, Chief. I won't have the same reaction to the Mountie that I had to Alex and if he and his Guide aren't bonded, we'll be there to get them through that. I wouldn't wish a partial bonding on anyone." Ellison visibly shuddered at the mention of a partial bond. Being only partially bonded to Blair had led to some very strange behavior from him. Pushing his Guide away one minute and practically clinging to him the next had certainly had him thinking he was going nuts. The senses had driven him nuts enough when they went on line; it had become a frequent nightmare for him. If he could spare another Sentinel that hell he would go to a great of trouble without any fuss.

Simon ignored the curious looks from the rest of his squad of detectives. He had never been able to get anything out of either Sentinel or Guide regarding this bonding thing and he really wasn't sure he wanted to know. There was a hell of a lot of unexplained things that were involved in this situation and what little he did know often told him that it was best to just go with the flow and ignore the rest as much as possible. "Guide Sandburg, take your Sentinel home and get him off his feet. Just because we're both allowed back on desk duty doesn't mean that Jim gets to totally ignore the rules."

"What about you Simon?" The switch from upset Guide to Shaman of the Great City was seamless. The Shaman wouldn't let his Chief neglect himself anymore than the Guide would neglect his Sentinel.

Simon made a face. "Don't you start on me, Sandburg. Joel will be taking over for me in one hour and Rafe will be driving me home. Daryl is already at home waiting for me. He already knows what to look out for, so I'm fine. Now shoo." He waved his hand at the pair in front of him and had Rafe, who was on 'Captain Duty' today; push his wheelchair back into his office.

A few minutes later the brass; the Commissioner, the Chief of Police, the District Attorney, and the head of Internal Affairs was sitting in his office. "Is what you told Mr. Sandburg the truth, Simon?" The Chief asked.

"Yes sir. We had no way of corroborating Ellison's Sentinel abilities until Sandburg's dissertation was accepted and fully documented fact. We lost the Juno case that way and we've been especially wary ever since." Simon said with quiet conviction. "There was no way we weren't going to use his abilities, they are too much a part of him and we want our detectives to use their eyes and ears and the brains that God gave them to solve crimes."

"I've been going over all of the cases Ellison ever worked on. You're right Simon; all of them will stand up to review." The District Attorney said.

"Are you sure?" The head of Internal Affairs asked suspiciously.

"Yes. I've had more than a week and burned a lot of clerk's and deputy attorney's midnight oil to make sure, but they all stand up. There is nothing in any of the cases that violates anyone's rights or procedures. If Ellison picked something up in any way that violated someone's rights I can't find it."

Simon settled back in his wheelchair and smiled with satisfaction. Although he didn't say anything, his posture said I told you so and none of the men in the office could blame him. He'd had a wonderful weapon against the criminals of this city and he'd used it to full advantage while staying within the law.

"Now what's this about a guide?"

Blair helped Jim hobble up the last of the stairs to their apartment and said, "I know exactly what I'm going to do with the money I get from the lawsuit man. I'm going to buy this building and make sure that the damn elevator is never out of order again!"

"Sounds good to me Chief," Jim panted. He leaned against the wall beside the door so Blair could open it. "I've never understood why the landlord can't keep that thing in operation. It's not like the Lash or any of the others ever damaged the thing." Blair opened the door and helped Jim get to the couch.

After helping Jim elevate his leg onto some pillows, Blair continued as he went back and closed the door. "Yeah and I'm going to add onto or replace the hot water heater for the loft. Maybe I'll have the entire bathroom redone. Heck, if Mr. Henry next door really does sell his place, I'll buy that and turn both of the apartments into one big one. That way we'd both have a little more privacy and lots more hot water. Plus I really want his bookshelves, man. His living room has wall to wall built-ins." Blair was just blowing smoke and both men knew it. Not that he wouldn't use whatever money he had to help Jim, that was a given. No, it was the idea of Blair splurging on creature comforts they didn't need when the money could be used for better things that was laughable.

"You know you might have something there Chief. If we end up getting students, we might need some more room. And more hot water and an elevator that runs sound wonderful." Ellison shifted his injured leg. He hated being wounded and the recovery process. It always seemed to last forever.

Blair froze in the act of pulling dinner out of the refrigerator. "You think we'll be getting students?" He asked, paling at the concept. "Here?"

"Yeah, I think we will. They can't all be crazy like Alex, Blair. I have to believe that there are more Sentinels like me out there than there are ones like her." Jim said quietly. "I don't know if I'd be able to tolerate them in my personal space but a lot of that might have been because we hadn't fully bonded yet. I want to see how it goes with testing the Mountie. If he is a Sentinel, I should be able to sense it as soon as I get close and if we can stand each other's presence, well," Jim shrugged. "We may end up having him come to Cascade for some training."

"If they come to Cascade and you can stand to have them in your city, I'd feel better if they weren't right here in our apartment." Blair said quietly. He still had nightmares about Alex drowning him.

"Maybe we should think about setting up a center where they can stay and get tested. I mean finding another Sentinel within hours of my press conference is no accident, Chief. In respect to the general population there may not be very many Sentinels out there, but I have a feeling we're going to have more than a few students."


	4. Chapter 4

Four days after Jim Ellison's press conference, the publicly acclaimed Sentinel and Guide pair were coming to the University of Illinois to oversee the public testing of Constable Benton Fraser of the RCMP as a possible Sentinel. If they hadn't been so sure of the outcome, they never would have left Cascade but Fraser had undergone unofficial testing from his coworkers and had passed. Now there were only the tests of meeting Jim and taking the tests publicly. Due to the possible reaction of having two Sentinels in one place at the same time it had been decided that they would meet at one of the local parks. Joel Taggart was accompanying them to Chicago as Simon still wasn't healed enough to make the trip. After catching a cab to their hotel, where the desk clerk had stared so hard at them that the manager had to take over for her, they dropped their bags in their rooms and headed for the park. Blair was keeping a close eye on Jim and therefore wasn't surprised when he started getting visibly twitchy. "He's a Sentinel, isn't he?" Blair said quietly. Joel turned around and looked at Jim from the front seat of the cab.

"Yes, there's a Sentinel here Chief. I felt him or her from the airport. I also see a cougar. I won't know who the cougar belongs to until I meet him or her, but I'm betting it's the Mountie." Joel had no idea what they were talking about but remembered Simon's advice to just go with the flow when ever the Sentinel stuff got too weird, and it would get weird, he had assured his old friend. Joel thought this talk of big cats belonging to a Sentinel must be one of the things Simon was talking about, that and the bonding thing that Simon had said to ignore because Blair and Jim wouldn't talk about it. "It doesn't feel like Alex did though." Jim reassured his Guide.

"Good." Blair said flatly. He really couldn't handle another crazy Sentinel. Joel knew what that was about at least. Alex Barnes had killed Blair. He had been shocked to find out that she had been a Sentinel. Simon had said that the senses had already driven her crazy by the time she had met Blair but still, to have killed the man who was trying to help you! It was unconceivable to the big man whose heart was as big as he was.

The cab pulled up in front of the park and Joel paid the fare. "Stay behind me Chief." Was all Ellison said, but all three of the men knew that Ellison was still worried about any reaction either of the two Sentinels might have. This was after all the first time two Sentinels had met deliberately in modern history.

And it didn't help that Ellison was still walking with a cane.

Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP was scared stiff. Not that anyone but his partner could tell, but he really hadn't expected to test positive as a Sentinel. He truly hadn't believed that his senses were any more acute than anyone else's. He had merely believed that he was simply trained to better make use of what he did sense. But the tests that Lt. Welsh had done in the bullpen had settled the matter. He was a Sentinel. Why hadn't his tracking teacher told him? He had to have known young Benton was a Watchman as they were known to the Intuit. The only thing he could think of was that his Shaman wasn't among the tribes that lived in the area. It would explain why he had been introduced to so many of the Intuit children when he was young. Benton was well aware of the legends of the Intuit people and he knew that without HIS Shaman he would go mad. He had to wonder if he was already on the way, after all he did see his dead father regularly. The only thing that comforted him on that subject was that according the legends it was normal for Watchmen to see spirits, and that his sister and his father's old friend and partner Buck Frobisher could also see Robert Fraser.

"Settle down, Frase. These guys know what they're doin." Ray rubbed his partner's back. Fraser was so stiff; he might as well have been made of concrete. He knew that this meeting was going to be made more difficult for Fraser because he hadn't been allowed to go in uniform. Sometimes Ray thought that the uniform was the closest thing Benton Fraser had ever had to a teddy bear. He certainly clung to it tightly enough when he was upset now. Suddenly Fraser was pushing Ray behind him and into a tree. Three men were approaching the small group and Fraser was making sure that he was between the men and Ray. "Hey Frase! Chill out. Everything's ok, calm down." What in the world was Fraser freaking out over?

Ellison stopped as soon as he saw the man in the Stetson hat's reaction. He also saw the cougar that he had been seeing since the airport standing protectively in front of a pitbull. There was no doubt about it now, this was the Mountie and he was a Sentinel. The man being pushed against the tree must be his Guide. He gave Joel a small push towards the group which included a wolf and another man and woman. "Go on ahead Joel. You introduce us and we'll wait here until he calms down and invites us over." Joel nodded and walked over to the group. Simon was right; this was getting stranger and stranger.

"Hi, I'm Joel Taggart. I'm with the Cascade Police Department. The big guy behind me is Sentinel Jim Ellison and the guy with the long hair is Guide Blair Sandburg." Joel said holding out his hand to the group. Surely someone would step up and introduce themselves.

"I'm Lt. Welsh, Major Crimes, 27th District." Welsh shook hands with the large black man. "This is Inspector Thatcher, RCMP." Joel shook hands with the only woman in the group. "These two are Constable Benton Fraser and Detective Ray Vechio. The wolf is Diefenbaker. And no, I don't know why Fraser has Vechio pinned to a tree. That's a new one on me." Welsh said, looking over at the two.

"I've seen it before, just check out those two." Joel laughed and motioned over his shoulder at Jim and Blair. "Ten to one says Blair and Vechio start beating on their Sentinels in a few minutes."

"No bet!" snarled Ray as he tried to shove Fraser off of him. "Get a grip Frase! We're here to meet them already!"

Fraser startled and then blushed a deep red. "I'm sorry, Ray. I don't know what came over me." He stood aside and let Ray step away from the tree. Ellison took that as his invitation and let Blair out from behind him. Then together they approached the new Sentinel and his Guide.

"Don't worry about it." Jim said to Fraser. "It's an instinctive reaction to guard your Guide against threats and an unknown Sentinel is always a threat. You have no way of knowing how stable I am."

"I'm afraid I'm finding this entire situation a little overwhelming. I never expected to pass the tests, you see. Did you say Guide?" Fraser asked. It would explain why he and Ray had fallen into working together so easily. But Ray wasn't someone he would have picked out as a Shaman.

"With the reaction you had to Jim and I there is no doubt that Detective Vechio is your Guide, Constable." Blair said reassuringly.

"And that is something that we have to keep under wraps for right now, Guide Sandburg, Sentinel Ellison." Lt. Welch said sternly. After looking around to make sure that no one was close enough to hear he said. "Detective Vechio is currently under cover with the mob in Vegas. This is Detective Kowalski. As far as the world is concerned Detective Vechio never left. Personally I think this is the biggest screw-up the feds have ever shoved down my throat, but I'm glad I got Kowalski out of the deal."

All three of the men from Cascade nodded to show that they understood. Undercover work was hazardous at the best of times; they wouldn't endanger another cop if they could help it. "How are we going to do the public testing without blowing your cover Detective?" Blair asked seriously.

"That has been arraigned." Inspector Thatcher said. "Shall we go to the University gentlemen?"

With both Lt. Welsh and Inspector Thatcher looking over her shoulder Dr. Johnson carefully measured four grains of sugar into a cup of exactly eight oz. of water. Then she did the same with four grains of salt. Next she prepared a cup with a similar sized measurement of honey. The honey was difficult to work with and took her three different tries but she did figure out how to get the honey to the exact measurement. "Ok, that's it." She turned around and shooing the department heads out of the way, returned the items to the drawer in her desk. She understood their concern but they were in the way. "You can bring the Constable in now."

Dr. Samantha Johnson was thrilled to be chosen by Blair Sandburg to be the one to administer this series of tests. She had been one of his many early test subjects and was grateful to the young man more than she could express. Now she had a way to pay him back for saving both her sanity and her marriage. She had an enhanced sense of hearing and it had led to a ton of problems for her before she had found Blair. Two members of the Americans for Universal Liberties, a watchdog group who watched governments all over the world for Human Rights Violations were standing on the opposite side of the lab from the group from Cascade and both Constable Fraser's personal physician and the Head of the school's Anthropology department were observing the tests as well. At the request of Constable Fraser, only a single reporter from the Chicago Sun Times was allowed in to watch the testing. He had been absolutely adamant that there be no pictures taken or he would not agree to the tests, so both photographers and television media had both been banned. He had very calmly explained that he did the occasional undercover work for both the Chicago Police Department and the RCMP and did not wish to be compromised.

Ray and Fraser were ushered in by Inspector Thatcher. She stayed in sight of the testers at all times so that no one could say she had given Fraser any advanced warnings. "All right Constable Fraser, I'm Dr. Samantha Johnson and you are?"

"Detective Vechio, I'm Fraser's partner." Ray said, shaking her hand. "Do you have any doughnut places around here? The wolf is upset that he can't get in on the testing." He jerked his thumb back at the doorway where Deif was making puppy eyes at the doctor. "You didn't want anyone to give Frase any clues and the wolf would tell him straight off, so we left him out there and now he's upset with us." He said with a straight face. Dr. Johnson wasn't sure whether or not he was joking.

"Umm, there's a Krispi Kreme shop on Washington and Blake." She said hesitantly.

"Greatness. T, can you take him?"

"Of course Detective." Turnbull said and went out to talk to the wolf. They left together in search of the elusive doughnuts.

"Really, Ray, doughnuts aren't good for him." Fraser said. He was twisting his Stetson in his hands.

"Yeah, but this way he won't bitch about the stupid tests for a month." Ray pointed out logically.

Fraser sighed but couldn't argue the point. Dief would whine and complain a great deal if he felt he had been left out and there was no doubt that he was being left out now. The bribe would make his life easier, but it still wasn't good for Dief's health. He'd just have to take Deif out for another run later. "Shall we get on with this?"

With Ray standing behind him with one hand on his shoulder, Constable Benton Fraser passed all of the sensory tests with flying colors. It was no surprise to those that knew him to find out that his strongest sense was taste. The Chicago Sun Times ran the article on the front page the next morning. By then, Constable Fraser, Diefenbaker and Detective Vechio had left the city for Cascade, Washington to train with the only other known Sentinel and Guide pair. It would be two weeks before they returned. By then, they hoped the media circus would have died down.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry this is so short, but I had to introduce the only other anthropologist who was actively working with a Sentinel

Josiah Sanchez looked up from the book he was reading and looked thoughtfully over at his team. His team was the ATF's best and at the same time, most unusual tactical team. Team seven, also nicknamed the Magnificent Seven due to their arrest and conviction rates, took on the worst of the worst in gun running, bombings, and similar crimes. They were also the most unruly, childish, and aggravating group of men on the planet. The book in question was a copy of Burton's Sentinels of Paraguay. He had always believed that it was just a bit of Burton fantasy. Now with the revelation that there were two documented cases of Sentinels he had decided to reread the book. If what he suspected after rereading the book was true, and the team's sniper, Vin Tanner was a Sentinel, the team was in for some drastic and probably at the same time completely minor changes.

Chris Larabee was the leader of Team seven. Chris himself was a widower who had tried to drown himself in whiskey following his wife and child's murder. It was only the selfless actions of his best friend and partner in the Denver PD, Buck Wilmington and the formation of Team seven that saved his life and his sanity. He was known through out the law enforcement community as a mean stubborn s.o.b. who was fiercely protective of his men. There were only two people known to be immune to his legendary glare, his boss Judge Orin Travis and his second in command, Vin Tanner. Most people simply considered him to be borderline crazy and his constant offering to shoot people didn't help. The fact that he always passed his psychological evaluations didn't help either.

Vincent Michael 'Vin' Tanner was his second in command and the team's sniper, tracker, and languages expert. It was often said that the long haired Texan could shoot the balls off a fly. He was also quiet, shy and the most devious prankster it had ever been Josiah's pleasure to meet. His pranks were legendary among those who worked at the Denver Federal Building. What was also legendary was his hatred of hospitals and his all too frequent visits there. Josiah now wondered how much of that hatred and the problems he had in the hospital had been due to Sentinel sensitivities.

Buck Wilmington was also a member of the team. He was the first member that Chris had recruited. He was the team's demolition expert. He also helped with undercover assignments and surveillance. A large gregarious man, Buck was infatuated with the female side of the species and amazingly, they with him. Loyal to a fault Buck had never once looked back when asked to join Team Seven and he thanked his lucky stars every day that he had done so. Joining the team had not only kept him close to his best friend, it had also given him five more.

JD Dunne was the team's computer and surveillance expert. At twenty two years of age, he could pass as seventeen, a fact that he both hated and enjoyed as it allowed him to go undercover where the others on the team couldn't. Like most of the men on his team JD had no family outside of it. His only relative, his mother, had died in Boston just after he had turned eighteen. After a few years in college, JD had realized that he didn't want a life stuck thinking up bigger and better computers and nothing else. He had dropped out and applied to the police academy in Boston. To his surprise and everyone else's he had passed with flying colors and had served his rookie year with distinction. Then he was recruited by Chris. In the team he had found the family he had lost when his mother had died. In Buck Wilmington he had found the big brother he had never had.

In a group of oddball individuals, Ezra P. Standish was the odd man out. Raised to be a con artist by his professional gold digger mother, Ezra had horrified her by becoming an undercover agent with the FBI. After being set up as a dirty agent by members of his own team, Standish had gone on to join the ATF and Team Seven. Ezra too found a family and brothers in the other members of the team, although he was still very wary of his own acceptance. The closest relationship he had ever had in his life was found with one long haired scruffy Texan, much to his mother's dismay. But Ezra wouldn't give them up for anything in the world.

The last man Josiah considered was Nathan Jackson, the team medic and forensic specialist. He was also often partnered with Josiah. While he was easily the calmest man of the bunch, just like the others he had his trigger points. The biggest of those was seeing others in pain. Another was that he was touchy about bigotry. He had a tendency to see bigots around every corner. Josiah sometimes wondered if it was a result of growing up as a black child of civil rights activists in the south.

Josiah turned his attention back to Vin. It all boiled down to whether or not Vin was a Sentinel. He definitely had the eyesight for it, and the rest of the behaviors? Well, he could just sit back and observe to see if Tanner had them or he could ask to run a few harmless tests. The trouble was, Vin hated tests. He hated hospitals even worse. So the idea of dragging him down to the university labs to run the tests was not a pleasant one. And there was no doubt that he would have to be dragged, the only question there was would it be literally or not. But this man was his brother of the heart; could he really ignore something that would have such a drastic impact on Vin's life?

Josiah sighed. There really was no way around it. He would have to convince Vin somehow to get tested. It was too important to the man's health. If he really was a Sentinel there were risks that Vin needed to know about and prepare for. As an anthropologist Josiah was more familiar with what had been left out of the news releases than those who hadn't studied the subject and had noticed that none of them had mentioned the Sentinel's Guide, who in precivilized cultures was often a shaman. Nor did any of them mention why a Guide was needed. There was nothing any where about the blackouts that a Sentinel could sometimes have. Nathan would also need to prepare because people who were hyper sensitive often had adverse reactions and how many times had Nathan fussed about Vin's allergies and sensitivities to drugs? If Vin was a Sentinel, Nathan could get the latest medical advice from Guide Blair Sandburg. Next Saturday there was a cookout scheduled for the team at Chris' ranch. He'd do his best to persuade Vin to take the tests there. And who knows, if he called up one of his friends over at the University of Illinois, maybe he could get the information to do the tests out at the ranch. Vin would be more willing to do them there than in a lab or hospital setting.


	6. Chapter 6

Blair Sandburg had a schedule that would drive an ordinary man into the ground as he had proved one slow week at Major Crimes a few years ago. Several officers had tried to keep up with him in an endurance challenge but no one had managed to do so. Jim Ellison hadn't been surprised. After only a single year with his Guide, he knew exactly how much energy, both physical and mental his Guide had. He was looking forward to seeing Blair turn some of that energy onto the people who had caused them so many problems. After returning to Cascade and setting Fraser and Ray up in a hotel in a more rural part of Cascade, and thus a significant distance from his Sentinel, Blair had gone on a whirlwind tour of the lawyers, university representatives, and other experts that was the resulting mess of his public declaration of suing both the university and the publishing company for their parts in the diss-aster as Blair liked to call it. The only one who was completely off limits was Naomi. Blair had simply said that he would explain later why Naomi wasn't at fault and had asked his friends to drop it. For his sake they had, although there were more than a few people who couldn't understand why he was letting it go.

Jim could see how Blair could forgive Naomi; after all she had only sent the dissertation to the publisher for proof reading, nothing else; even if she had gone behind Blair's back to do so. If the man had any scruples at all it would never have gone farther than that. Instead, he had sent excerpts to the media after Blair had forbidden him to do anything with manuscript. As for Naomi being so excited at the thought of her son winning the Nobel Prize that she hadn't listened to him, well, neither had anyone else. Jim knew there was more to it than that, but he had no idea what it could be. Naomi had left the day they had gone to Chicago and he had noticed that Blair had been very careful about making sure that she knew where she was going and that she would call him when she got there. She hadn't called, but Blair had called someone to make sure she had arrived. It was all very puzzling to the Sentinel and now that they were both back in the loft, maybe he could get some answers.

"Stay on the couch Jim." Blair firmly ordered as he walked down the hall towards the loft. He knew that Jim would be listening to him from the moment his car got close enough to the loft. "I brought dinner and you have got to taste this new chicken pizza Tony's just came out with." He opened the door to the loft and nodded in approval when he saw Jim stretched out on the couch. "They had small pieces out as trial samples and it just wowed me." Blair prepared a plate and brought it and a beer over for Jim. "How are you doing with Fraser here in Cascade?" He asked as he prepared his own plate.

"I'm still a little edgy, but that's either because he and Ray aren't fully bonded yet or it's just a way of letting me know another Sentinel is around. When are you going to talk to them about that?" Jim tried the pizza. As usual, Blair had managed to find something that was healthier than his usual fast food choice and also tastier. "This is pretty good Chief. I can handle the edginess no problem, it's really minor."

"Are you just telling me that or are you serious?" Blair sent a stern look in Jim's direction as he grabbed his plate and drink before carrying them over to the couch. As usual, Jim's house rules were suspended when one of them was convalescing in the loft.

"I'm serious. It's like a background hum, almost like hearing the electrical lines. If I can ignore that, then I can ignore this." Jim assured him. "How is the squabble going?"

"Oh man, you would not believe how far backwards they are bending to get out of a lawsuit. I'm keeping my demands reasonable, Edwards and Graham lose their jobs, because really they both broke so many rules it just isn't funny man. I mean, hello! I hadn't turned in my diss, and I specifically told Graham not to do anything with that copy he had. It helped that he called me at the station. The publisher's lawyer went pale when I told him that because he had called me at the station I had a recorded copy of the conversation." Blair sniggered, "You should have seen it! If you hadn't needed the downtime after the flight, I would have dragged you there just to see it. Anyway, the university agreed to cover all my student loans and pass my dissertation automatically. So, as of first thing Monday morning, you are looking at Dr. Blair Sandburg and I will be debt free. They wanted me to accept a position on the university staff but I turned them down. The way they've been treating me this last year," Blair shrugged. "I just got fed up with it. With Edwards in charge ethics were really taking a backseat and I can't work that way, especially with the lives of Sentinels hanging in the balance."

"Chief, knowing you, you wouldn't work with them under any circumstances after all of this no matter if there was someone's life at stake or not." Jim said and he ate another piece of pizza. Mentally he paused and reviewed what he just said. "I meant that you would never risk anyone's life to their shoddy ethics, not that you would ever put anyone's life at risk. Well, you know what I meant." He ended frustrated.

Blair shrugged again, pleased Jim thought so highly of him. For a while he had thought that this would be the situation that would finally destroy their friendship, even as Jim was trying so hard to encourage him to take the money and the fame. But Blair could easily see the pain and he had tried to lessen it as much as he could, even to the point of giving Jim as much space as possible. Unfortunately that had backfired, but it was all worked out now. They had a long talk about the situation and how they had both screwed up. There was only one thing left to talk about, Naomi.

"Jim, I said that I would explain later about why Naomi wasn't responsible. It's later." Blair set his dinner down. He didn't think he could finish it no matter how good it was. "The Naomi you met the last two times, well that wasn't Naomi. That was Butterfly and Hurricane. My mother was attacked and tortured when she was about seven and again when she was sixteen. The same man did it to her. He had escaped from prison and tried to take up where he left off the first time. I don't know if it is a fact, but I think he may have been my father. He was killed by the local cops when they rescued her. She doesn't remember that part; I learned all of this from my uncle. That's one of the reasons she has a hard time with cops, she associates them with her trauma. The fact that she was in several protests when she was a teenager doesn't help either. The trauma resulted in her developing multiple personalities. Butterfly is the one who gives Naomi her flake reputation. She loves everyone and everything and has no clue that people see things differently than she does. Hurricane, well she does what she wants when she wants and damned the consequences. That was where all of her hurt and rage at the attacks went. Each break in her personality formed an alternate based on the age when she was attacked. When my mother travels, she is always going to someone who knows her and her condition. We all keep an eye on her. You can't cage Naomi, because it brings back the emotions of the attacks. I was never in any danger when I was growing up because her friends always kept an eye on her and me. There were times when I was left with her friends, but I was never left alone. They taught me to take care of her the way Naomi took care of me. And Naomi is a wonderful mother. Butterfly and Hurricane only come out when something is wrong. Like when the carjackers kidnapped her. It takes a long time for them to let Naomi back, but eventually she does come back."

"Blair, tell me she's under a doctor's care!" Jim was stunned. He had no idea that something was so wrong with Naomi. Sure he'd noticed her erratic behavior, but he'd just thought she was a flake.

"Her parents took her in, but the doctor's back then just scared her even worse. She ran away and the only person she still has contact with is her brother. That's why she goes to all of the spiritual retreats and things like that Jim. She's convinced that the mainstream doctors will be just like the one she saw before. Naomi knows about Hurricane and Butterfly. She knows why her mind created them. But she would rather live with them and spend the rest of her life traveling between her friends and retreats than set one foot in a clinical psychologists' office. And I can't blame her for that. She may not have a conventional life, but it works for her and them. That was why I got that minor in psychology. I wanted to understand."


	7. Chapter 7

Josiah ran over the list in his mind one more time. He had put everything in his suburban. He was glad that he had good friends on the staff at the University of Illinois. One of them had gotten him the list of the tests and how they were conducted without any problem whatsoever. Now all he had to do was convince Vin that he needed to take them. He got into the car and set off for Chris' ranch.

Josiah was the last member of the team to arrive at the ranch. Vin watched him pull up in his suburban and just knew that things were about to come to a head. Josiah had been watching him for days. He didn't know what the problem was, but Josiah was going to do something about it now. He wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved. Vin had found that having one of his teammates stare at him was very uncomfortable. It kept triggering his instincts and he had to stop himself for reaching for a weapon. Not that it would have been the first time a weapon had been drawn in the bullpen, but he'd never pulled his weapon on a friend and really didn't want to just because someone was staring at him. The only thing he was sure of was that he was glad all of this would be over soon. "'siah," he nodded at the big profiler. "Need some help?"

Josiah gathered up his courage. "I need to talk to you Vin. Do you have some time?"

Finally! Vin thought. "Yep." He jerked his head over at the barn. Whatever was going on with Josiah, the rest of the boys probably didn't need to hear it.

Josiah followed Vin into the barn and stood in front of him while Vin leaned on Peso's stall door. "Have you seen the news coverage of Sentinels lately?"

Was that all? Vin thought. "Course."

"I think you might be one."

"'Siah, I've known I'm a guardian since I was seven years old and the system put me in the grandfather's daughter's house." Vin smiled. "I don't know who my shaman is though. The grandfather said I'd need one but I wouldn't meet him til I was grown. He taught me what I needed to know to keep stable until my shaman found me."

Josiah laughed. "I've been twisting myself into knots for days and you already knew." He shook his head and grabbing the younger man by the back of the neck dragged him back up to the house where the rest of the team was gathered on the deck. "Brothers, it seems Brother Vin has been holding out on us."

"What did you do now Cowboy?" Chris asked with a smirk. Vin was one of the team's trouble magnets. It was rarely his fault, but they teased him just the same.

"He's a Sentinel, he's known for years and he didn't tell us when it hit the news. I've been worried sick about needing to drag him down to get tested for it cause there are a lot of problems that go with it, but the damned cuss just stands there and says he's known since he was a kid." Josiah said disgusted.

Vin just shrugged, he didn't know what all the excitement was about. "What sort of problems?" Chris and Ezra both demanded at the same time. They both looked at each other in surprise as the others laughed at them.

"I'll call Dr. Sandburg and get whatever information I can from him." Josiah said with a grin. "Nathan you already know about most of the medical problems. The rest, Vin says he has a handle on and since he hasn't lost his mind, I'm willing to say that he does as well. The real problem now is of course we need to help him find his Guide. That's going to be the hard part, because I for one have no idea how to go about doing that. I'm hoping that Dr. Sandburg does."

"I was hopin' it was one of ya boys, but," Vin shrugged. "Truth is I don' remember what the grandfather told me about figuring out who he is, just tha' it's a he." Each member of the team considered this new information about their brother and tried to figure out how he could help.

With Jim on light duty for another two weeks, Blair thought it would be a good idea to get everything into place so that he would be ready when for when they went back on duty full time. He smiled to himself as he pulled his car into the parking lot of his realtor's office. He had an appointment to look at an old campground today. If it met his standards, it would be the perfect place to set up a Sentinel and Guide Center. The realtor was waiting at the door and came out quickly. Like most of the citizens of Cascade she had been following the news coverage of the Sentinel story and was very proud of the fact that Dr. Sandburg had chosen her to help him find the site of his new center.

Going out to the campgrounds, Blair ran over his mental list. It needed to be quiet, just outside the city limits so as to establish neutral territory, a good office building with internet access, and no Sentinel hazards like pig farms nearby, a good cafeteria and most importantly right now, a good bonding site. Ben and Ray needed that immediately. As the realtor led Blair over the grounds he was pleased at what he saw. The cabins held three bunks each, but were still small enough that a single Sentinel and Guide pair would be comfortable taking one over. With three bunks each, tribal members would be easily accommodated in each cabin if needed and they were far enough away from one another to give each pairing privacy as well. There were no obvious hazards, although he knew it would take time and many Sentinel visitors before that could be assured. All of the public buildings were in good repair and although there was no internet access hardwired into the buildings, it wouldn't be hard to set that up. There was just the bonding site to find.

It took two hours and searching nearly every inch of the property, but Blair did manage to find it. Several streams feed the lake that was part of the property and just above the banks of one of those streams Blair found a sunlit meadow. It was tiny, not much larger than the average bedroom, but Blair could see both Jim's jaguar and his wolf lounging in the center. He smiled and turned to the exhausted realtor. "I'll take it. How soon can I take possession of the property?"

"As soon as you sign the papers, Dr. Sandburg." The realtor answered, glad that the last three hours had a positive outcome not only for her, but for the Sentinels that Dr. Sandburg would soon be helping as well.


	8. Chapter 8

Josiah was the one to make the call to Cascade and was able to get all of them an appointment to see Dr. Sandburg at his new Sentinel and Guide Center in two days time. The Center was brand new Josiah informed them, Dr. Sandburg had only purchased it today, and so they were asked to bring their camping gear. None of the men had any problems with this and went to pack before the flight that Chris had arranged.

Chris called up Judge Travis. He wouldn't be happy to hear that Team Seven needed a week or so off, but at least they had just finished up a bust rather than being in the middle one.

"Travis."

"Judge, its Chris. My team needs some time off starting right away."

"I know you boys need some down time, Chris."

Chris interrupted. "This isn't down time, Judge. It turns out that Vin is a Sentinel and Josiah got all of us an appointment to see Dr. Sandburg in Cascade. I've already made the flight plans, we're leaving tonight. I don't know how long we'll be gone, but I figure it'll be at least a week."

Judge Orin Travis looked at the phone receiver in his hand and shook his head before placing it back to his ear. "Did you say that Tanner is a Sentinel?"

"Yes I did Judge and no it isn't one of his pranks. Josiah is the one who figured it out. I don't have a whole lot of time right now Judge; I got a flight to catch and people to pick up."

"I understand Chris. Do whatever it is you have to and take as long as you need. We'll look after Denver. You look after Tanner."

Blair and Jim drove Fraser and Kowalski up to the campground in separate vehicles. They each used the time to give the men some last minute advice on the bonding ceremony, which mainly came down to 'it feels silly, but you do need to do it, so relax and know that its your best friend that your doing this with'. Ray smirked, after a year working with Fraser, there wasn't much that would embarrass him when it came to weird ass ceremonies. The thing that he wasn't sure about was going into this blind as to what the ceremony was supposed to do. He knew it was supposed to establish some kind of bond between them and that neither Blair or Jim were the sorts to make them do something just because it was tradition and wasn't really useful. Hell, they'd already been taught several off the wall techniques that worked so well Ray could have been knocked over with a feather. What was even better was the day they had spent learning how to use Fraser's Sentinel abilities at crime scenes and other uses that were geared for police work. It turned out that Fraser had been working at about a quarter speed with his abilities. That had really shocked both of them. It turned out that the tracking training Ben had received as a kid from Quinn had taught him how to mostly avoid the worst thing that could happen to a Sentinel, the zone out. Ben never, never, ever concentrated on a single sense. He always used a minimum of two senses at the same time. He had been taught that to do so meant death in the wilderness that he had grown up in. The big problem he had, it turned out, was getting overwhelmed by too much information. It was hard for him to separate out what he wanted from everything else that was going on around him.

Blair led Ray over to the showers. "Ok man, now take a shower and scrub as much of everything off of you as possible. You need to get all of the 'extra' sensory information off of you. The only thing you should be giving off is you, your scent, your sounds, etc."

"So this is a don't confuse the poor Sentinel thing rather than a, you stink thing right?" Ray grinned at Blair.

"Right!" Blair laughed.

"Are you at least going to tell me why you aren't telling me what is gonna happen?" Ray asked as he proceeded to scrub himself down.

"It's a matter of trust." Blair said simply. "Both halves of the pairing need to trust one another without question. You know that something is going to happen that involves your partner in someway. The question now is, do you trust him enough to go into this willingly, knowing that you are blind, simply because it is something your partner needs?"

"I can't swim." Ray said simply before dunking his head under the shower spray.

"What does that mean?" Blair asked, knowing that somehow Ray had answered his question but not understanding the reference.

"I've followed Frase into the water more times than I want to remember. Hell, the first day we met he had me drive a burning car into Lake Michigan, off the docks." Ray made a diving motion with his hand. "He dragged me out and then less than a minute later I took a round in the vest for him. Got no problem trustin' him, you on the other hand, I'm a little worried about." Ray grinned to show that he was teasing and Blair took the jibe in the spirit it was meant.

"This isn't going to hurt Ray, is it?" Fraser asked Jim as he took his own shower.

Jim smiled. He was beginning to think that would be a frequent question for the Sentinel half of this ceremony. After all, he had asked the same question of the shaman who had overseen his and Blair's bonding. Maybe he should start drawing up a list of questions that were likely to be asked. "No, it won't hurt your Guide. You need to trust him and let this happen at its own pace. Don't try to control it. Don't try to force it to be something that you are familiar with. This will be something that is completely new to both of you."

"I'm afraid I'm rather nervous. Are you sure Diefenbaker can't be here for this?"

"No, it will be just the four of us. I'll be making sure that no one interrupts and Blair will be leading you and Ray through this. Dief will have plenty of company at H's house. His kids really want a pet and by watching Dief they can prove that they are responsible enough to handle one."

"Is it really necessary?" Fraser knew he was being childish, but not knowing what was going to happen or what it was supposed to do worried him.

"Your bond with Ray may save his life someday." Jim said gently. He knew that was all the information that was needed. Fraser nodded sharply at him. He would do anything that would help his partner to improve his chances of survival on the streets. "All you need to do is trust him, Fraser. The rest will happen on its own."

Silently they entered the bonding site from one side, while Fraser and Jim entered from the other. Both Fraser and Ray were wearing jeans and shoes, but nothing else. Still staying silent both men were urged to sit in the center of the small clearing, with Ray sitting between Fraser's legs. Blair rested Ray's hands palm up on his knees and guided Fraser's hands, palm down onto them. This brought the maximum amount of bare skin into contact. Then Blair rested his hands on the tops of their heads.

Instantly both men were transported to the spirit plane. Surrounded by an icy landscape they could only sit frozen and watch as a cougar and a pitbull ran at each other and merged in a flash of light. Each man was flooded with images from his partner's life from birth to present, experiencing every emotion, every strong thought that went along with the image. Ray saw the murder of Ben's mother when he was six, experienced the cold and lonely life he had led as the grandson of the traveling librarians, his time at the Depot, his life as a Mountie in the wilderness, and his experiences in the city of Chicago. Ben saw the hospital visits Ray had several times a year for most of his first eight years, his frustration with school, his learning how to work on cars with his father, falling in love with Stella, their marriage, dropping out of school and becoming a police officer, his years on the force, his divorce, becoming Ray Vechio. All this and more flooded their minds until they fell over from exhaustion.

Having been through this experience themselves, Jim and Blair were prepared for this. Working together they bundled both men onto a sleeping bag and covered them with another. When the two men awoke the next morning, they would find that they would only need to think about their partner for them to know what the other was experiencing. It would come in handy both when they were on the job and when they weren't. They wouldn't ask what either man had seen or experienced, it was far too personal. But from now on, Fraser and Ray would always have someone who understood them from the inside out, no matter what happiness or pain the years ahead of them brought.


	9. Chapter 9

It was just after noon when Team Seven arrived at the Sentinel and Guide Center. They were met at the main building by Dr. Sandburg and Sentinel Ellison. Dr. Sandburg had warned Josiah, who had passed it on to the rest of the team, that two Sentinels meeting together could cause a lot of problems and that it needed to be handled delicately. First and foremost was the fact that he was Ellison's Guide and Sentinels were hardwired to protect their Guides from all threats, even themselves. Ellison would want to protect Sandburg from Vin and Vin, if one of the team members was his Guide, would want to protect him from Ellison. It was the one sure way to tell who someone's Guide was. No research had been done on Guides by western anthropologists. Until now, few had even realized that the Guide was more than just the Sentinel's backup. When it was noticed, in what little literature there was, the Guide was often dismissed as merely the tribe's shaman or shaman's apprentice. Dr. Sandburg was the first to realize, and that was only due to being a Guide himself, that there was more to the Guide than was previously supposed. For that reason Buck had parked on the side of the parking lot farthest away from the building. Ellison and Sandburg were waiting on the steps of the main building.

The seven men piled out of the van and Chris walked over to the two men waiting on the steps. "I'm Chris Larabee. The jokers behind me are ATF Team Seven."

"Welcome to the Sentinel and Guide Center Agent Larabee. I'm Blair Sandburg and this is Jim Ellison." Chris shook Blair's hand and then Jim's.

Chris ran through the introductions, each of the team nodding as Chris came to their names. "Vin's still a mite skittish right now, Dr. Sandburg. He's known for a long time that he was a Sentinel but as Josiah told you, the rest of us just found out and we immediately dragged him out here. None of us want to lose him because we didn't know whatever it is we needed too."

"That's a good attitude to have." Blair said with a smile. With this kind of support, there was no doubt that Vin was in good hands.

Leaning against the van, with his teammates behind him, Vin showed nothing of the turmoil going on inside of him as he watched Chris do the meet and greet with Cascade's Sentinel and Guide. "Are you ok, Brother Vin?" Josiah asked in a low rumble.

" Az long as he stays over there." Vin nodded at Ellison.

"He's going to have to come over here brother."

"I know." Vin said shortly. He also knew that it was damned lucky he was meeting the other Sentinel here rather than in Denver or Cascade. Both of them were out of their territory and because he didn't know who his Guide was, he was more of a threat to Ellison than Ellison was to him. On the other hand, he had his tribe with him while Ellison didn't. He supposed it evened out in the end.

Just then a large sedan pulled up in between the team and Ellison and Sandburg. The door opened and out stepped a large black man. "Ellison, Sandburg! We need you downtown right now! The mayor's brother has just been found dead."

"We're in the middle of something H, that's why our cells were turned off!" Dr. Sandburg groused. He did understand about the politics involved with the mayor's brother turning up dead, but couldn't H have gotten here a little later?

"Sorry Hairboy, it's out of my hands." Brown replied.

"Yeah I know, the mayor's upset and she wants us on it." Blair waved off Brown's apology. "Go over to cabin four and pick up Fraser and Ray. They can do the first sweep and we'll be over as soon as we've finished here. It won't take too long. Where is the crime scene?"

"The mayor's house and she's freaked Sandburg. I'll go pick up the Mountie and the flatfoot now. Which way is cabin four?" H asked. Ellison pointed off to his right and Brown got back in his car and headed off.

As soon as he was out of the way Ellison walked over to stand in front of Tanner. "As you can tell I don't have time for a staring contest. I'm Ellison." He stuck out his hand and Tanner took it warily.

"Tanner. Far as I know I ain't got no Guide, but one of ma foster parents' dad was a shaman an' he taught me how ta keep my mind 'til I found me one." Ellison nodded. "You need some help?"

Both Blair and Josiah were closely watching Tanner for any sign he was protecting someone from Ellison. It was Josiah, who was far more knowledgeable of Vin's body language, who caught the faint signs. He had edged just slightly to the right. There were two members of the seven there. Either one could be Vin's Guide, or it may just be that he was guarding some of the youngest members of the team. Although Ezra was older than he was by a couple of years. It was hard to say at this point.

"Sure, just be aware that Cascade's my territory so I'll be touchy. Also don't go anywhere near Sandburg unless you absolutely have to. He's my Guide and I will assume you are trying to take him away from me if you touch him. I'm not saying that you will try; I'm saying that it's an instinctive reaction. I've already gone through that once when an unbonded Sentinel came through Cascade and I don't want to go through it again."

"Alright." Vin said.

"Load 'em up boys. It looks like we got us some work to do." Chris said.

When they were in the car, Josiah turned around. "Ezra, JD, both of you stay close to Vin."

"Why should we do that?" JD asked.

"Vin was trying to stay in between the two of you and Ellison. If we're lucky, it's because one of you is his Guide."


	10. Chapter 10

All three Sentinels arrived in different vehicles. Fraser and Ray rode with Henri Brown. Ellison and Sandburg rode in Jim's truck. And Vin rode in the rented van with his team. When they pulled up to the building, they could see an ambulance take off from in front of the house. The crime scene was in the back of the house and it wasn't a pretty one, not that many crime scenes were. "Dial it down guys." Blair said as he caught sight of the body shoved head first into the large chipper in the back yard. All any of the other could do was make sounds of disgust. JD couldn't even do that and ran back to the van for a barf bag. Buck went with him to make sure he was alright.

Vin didn't know what Dr. Sandburg meant by 'dial it down' but he knew for sure that he wasn't going to get near the body when it was in that condition. From the looks of it, the chipper had run out of gas about one third of the way through chipping the body. He started looking around the house for tracks and caught some faint drops of blood.

"Blood trail going to the neighbor's house." Ellison said. Pointing out what Vin had seen. He cocked his head and took off running. "Someone's in the shower, Chief."

Vin let them go off. He had a feeling this had started in the house. He started to walk over and Chris took his arm. "Wait a minute cowboy. Let me clear it with their Captain first."

Simon Banks, who by this time had graduated to a sling, heard Chris and waved them over. "I'm Simon Banks and you are?"

"Chris Larabee, ATF and this is my team. Vin Tanner is here to get some lessons from Dr. Sandburg on how to handle his Sentinel abilities. He hasn't had any training since he was about eight or so."

"Go right ahead, just observe crime scene protocols. Serena! Take these gentlemen where ever they want to go." Simon bellowed. The crime scene technician was well aware of Ellison's Sentinel abilities, and so stayed out of the newcomers' way other than to watch them closely to see that they didn't mess up anything that could be considered evidence.

Vin led the small group up the back steps being careful to avoid the blood trail he pointed out to Serena. She walked directly behind Vin. Chris and Ezra followed her closely. The others had decided to wait outside as too many people could compromise the evidence. Serena had come prepared and marked the trail so no one would step on it. The back door was open and Vin carefully stepped thought it with the others walking in single file behind him. The backdoor led to a kitchen area that way trashed. Pots and pans were all over the floor and counters along with what looked like anything else that had come to hand. "Somebody got chased through here," Vin said. He inhaled deeply. "Shit! This was a rape gone bad Chris." He carefully walked over to one heavy pan. "This is what did the fella in. She hit him in the head I think." He pointed out to Serena the hair, blood and what looked to him like brain matter on the edge of the pan. He pointed out the blood trail out to the door. "She dragged him out to the backyard and tried to shred the body." Carefully going through the rest of the crime scene Vin pointed out ripped pieces of clothing, a woman's shoe that had been kicked under a couch, a drug cache, and finger prints on objects that had been thrown. He also carefully pointed out the tracks on the carpet and told her which belonged to which person. Serena could barely see any tracks at all. Never the less, she faithfully recorded and marked each and every item he showed her.

Outside Fraser and Ray were examining the body. "There are long blond hairs wrapped around the fingers," Fraser said, pointing them out to the crime scene tech. "They appear to have been yanked out by the roots. His pants are unfastened and he was dragged through some blood. There is what looks to be skin under the nails of his other hand."

"Concentrate Frase; filter out what isn't in front of you." Ray muttered while keeping his head turned away from the body. He really didn't like stiffs, especially ones that were torn up or something like this.

"Yank never could handle a corpse." Robert Fraser sniffed. He leaned over the body. "Oh my, that is a nasty one though."

"Course it is! He's been shredded from the head down!" Ray snapped.

The Constables, both the living and the dead, turned to look at him. "You heard him? You heard me?" they asked.

"Yeah, I heard and I can see the dead guy too. I just don't wanna look at him. The shredded dead guy, not you," Ray waved his hand at Robert Fraser.

"Why can you see him now? You never have been able to before?" Benton wanted to know. Simon waved the crime scene crew to ignore them. Whatever they were discussing had to be Sentinel stuff. Most of the people at the scene continued to do their jobs while keeping one ear out for the Sentinel and Guide's discussion.

"Probably that bonding thing," Ray just shrugged it off. "Although I gotta know, do you always hang around being critical of guys who can't hear you or is it just me?"

Satisfied at Ray's explanation and well used to ignoring his father at crime scenes, Benton only listened to their half argument half discussion with one ear. The rest of his attention was on the body. There was something in the smell….he concentrated on the sound of Ray's voice and the touch of his hand on Benton's back. There, now he wouldn't zone, now to isolate that smell. It took him several minutes to sort out the smells associated with the disposal of the body and isolate the smell that had caught his attention. He looked up at the coroner who was kneeling next to him. "This gentleman was using drugs and smells of the rage/lust smell that I associate with rape cases." He said this softly as he didn't want to influence an official opinion.

Dan Wolf nodded. "Are you haunted, Sentinel?"

"Yes, my father was murdered during the course of an investigation. After his murderer was caught he decided to stick around." Benton hoped this explanation was acceptable to the coroner; it was the truth after all.

Dan nodded again. "Better to have them around at all, than not," was his opinion.


	11. Chapter 11

Jim could clearly hear the sobbing coming from the house. "Police! Open up!" he called and went in through the front door. Blair was right behind him as was Rafe and Brown. It didn't take long for the Sentinel to clear the house of everyone but the person in the shower. He led the group right to the bathroom where everyone could hear the shower running.

None of them expected to see a young woman sitting in the bottom of the shower stall crying her eyes out and trying desperately to scrub something off of her. She didn't even see them. It was obvious to the men standing there that something was very wrong. The shower was running ice cold while the taps were stuck in the hot position. Blair quickly shoved the cops back and turned the taps off. "Here, why don't you come out now?" he asked as he held a towel out for her.

Rafe and Brown backed out of the room altogether and called for an ambulance. Either they had another victim, a witness, or their vic had been the one who was the bad guy. Any of those was possible under the circumstances they had found her.

After the ambulance had left for the second time, Simon gathered everyone back at the bullpen. Once the reports were all finished, including Jim's who had stayed behind for a short time to go over the crime scene; it became very obvious what had happened. With Ellison agreeing with what the other two Sentinels had found, Simon now had a political hot potato on his hands. But hot potatoes were his job, not his detectives and he sent Ellison and Sandburg back to whatever it was they were doing before this mess had landed in his lap.

Back at the campgrounds Team seven was shown to a cabin and told to come down to the fire pit they had been shown on the way when they were done settling in. Ellison was going for food and they would eat there.

Back at their cabin, Ray stood watching Fraser talk with his dead father. While the situation was weird, that had become par for the course since he had been partnered with Big Red. And speaking of teaming up with Fraser, he wondered how the real Ray Vechio was doing. "Hey!" he piped up to break into the not quite argument; mostly because he knew his partner was about to blow his stack. Not that Frase would ever actually yell, not even at the dead jerk who had fathered him, no he would get all cutting and snarky. A politely snarky partner was what he didn't need right now. "Do ya think ya kin pop in and check on Vechio? I mean, bein a ghost and all, you won't blow his cover. All we know for sure is he's still alive. Besides, I kinda got this feelin," Ray didn't elaborate, but Fraser looked pointedly at his father.

Robert Fraser found himself caught between a rock and a hard place, or to be more specific between his son and his son's Guide. Why did his son's Guide have to be they Yank? Hadn't the first one been bad enough? He sighed and disappeared.

Fraser intercepted Ray's smug look with a look of gratitude. He didn't know how much more of his father's harping he could take. "What sort of feeling Ray?" he asked, more to hear his Guide's voice than to hear what information Ray might have. Ellison had told him about this need he would have just to hear his Guide, whether it be his heartbeat or his voice or even just hear the sound of his breathing. When Fraser had wanted to know how Ellison could tell the difference between Dr. Sandburg's heartbeat and anyone else's Ellison had simply said arrhythmia.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand." Fraser said, rubbing his thumb across his eyebrow. He really didn't want to tell his teacher that he was nuts.

"About fifty percent of the world's human population has a mild to barely register able heart murmur. Every heart murmur is different, different pattern, different strength, most of the time it really isn't register able on medical equipment but you can hear it. Basically if you can put your Guide's pattern into your permanent memory, you should be able to find him in a crowd, just by listening for that sound." Ellison pointed out. "Plus there is all of the other sensory output a particular Guide gives off. For instance, Ray uses a particular brand of hair gel right?" Fraser had nodded, seeing where Ellison was going with this line of thought. "All of those will paint you a sensory picture of your Guide that belongs to him and to no one else and the most important of all of them is sound, at least for me it is, but then hearing is my strongest sense." He had shrugged when adding that qualifier. He had no idea how Fraser's strongest sense being taste would affect that aspect of a Sentinel and Guide's relationship.

"I see, it is also the most easily accessible sense, at least in modern western society. After all, I'm sure Ray would object to me tasting him in public, he already has a hard enough time when I taste the evidence now." Fraser frowned.

"Yeah, they never do seem to understand the urge to lick them do they?" Ellison grinned as Fraser blushed. For what seemed the millionth time this year Fraser silently cursed his fair complexion that made his blushes so easily seen. He simply shook his head. No, no one of his acquaintance, save perhaps some of the elders among the Intuit, would ever understand his urge to taste his partner. Probably not even his Guide would understand that there was nothing sexual about it; it was just a way of gathering more information about his Guide that couldn't be gathered any other way. Plus it would help stabilize his sense of taste when it started to act up.

With half formed thoughts of plans to find a way to lick Ray without getting himself 'kicked in the head' as Ray liked to put it, Fraser settled in to listen to his Guide. "I dunno Frase, just a feelin. I mean come on! There has got to be a reason dat you were able to come straight outa da Great White North smack dab inta da middle of one of da biggest cities in the US and not go nuts from too much stuff goin on around ya. I figure it's gotta be Vechio. He's gotta be a Guide. But since he's not your Guide, cause I am, his Sentinel has gotta be real close to what you're like. Cause otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to help ya so much, even if neither of ya knew it. So I'm kinda thinking maybe him and Maggie," Ray waved his hands from side to side. "Anyway, how are ya doin around dis new guy?"

"RAY AND MAGGIE?" Although Benton Fraser had only known about his little sister for a little over a month he had learned how to be a big brother from watching Ray Vechio interact with his sister Francesca. Suddenly a lot of Ray's previously inexplicable behavior became clear. He really didn't want Ray Vechio to become intimately involved in any way with his little sister.

Ray shook his head. "You two are both Bob Fraser's kids. It's like some kinda general, generic," he waved his hands frustrated with his aphasia.

"Genetic," Benton supplied absentmindedly as he tried to absorb the concept of his sister involved with his highly excitable, and most definitely a city person, best friend.

"Dats it. Genetic stamp. I figure your Sentinel stuff is part of dat. I mean both of you are Mounties and ya both got crappy records with romance, oh and don't forget to ask me about that later, Blair told me why you went so nutso over dat Metcalf chick. Anyways, both of you two practically breathe truth, justice and the Canadian way and don't try to snowball me about dat being just cause you're both Mounties. I've met enough of dem now that I know how much of a freak both of ya are even for Mounties and I figure it's got ta be the genetic stuff cause your old man didn't raise either of ya. So der's a good chance she's a Sentinel too."

This Ray had described as just a 'feeling'? Suddenly Benton really wasn't so sure Ray wasn't a shaman. A modern, citified, and above all an American shaman, but a shaman none the less. How much of his instincts were a connection to the spirit world and how much were from experience in a world that Benton still didn't really understand? Which ever it was, Ray was the perfect shaman for him and who was he to deny his sister her perfect partner and Guide? "At the very least, by sending Ray to Maggie he'll be safe from any reprisals for his undercover work," Benton said. Logic and Instinct, they really worked best together and not when one was trying to out due the other. This time he would follow where his Guide led, even if it did mean introducing his sister to his best friend who was sure to take one look and fall head over heels for her. He would just have to bury his new found big brother instincts in this instance.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I truly apologize for taking so long in updating this story. My muse has been busy giving me bunnies for other stories and series and couldn't be dragged back to this one until I got the rest finished or worked on. I promise this story will be finished. I never, ever leave a story unfinished. My stories may be put on hold for a short time, but they will never be abandoned.

Vin scoped out the cabin while everyone else got their gear out of the van. It was a smallish cabin, maybe twenty by twenty feet. There were three sets of bunk beds, one set on each of the three walls that didn't contain the front door. Beside the door were hooks for hanging things like coats and wet towels and the like, but they were set quite a bit down the wall. Vin guessed that this used to be a girl scout camp or something. There was something in the air that reminded him of young girls. Vin shrugged, it didn't matter much now. The cabin was theirs for as long as they were here. Personally he hoped it didn't take too long. He wanted to get back to Purgatorio and his work.

"You gonna let us in Cowboy?" came from a grinning Chris who was at the door behind Vin. It always amused Chris to watch Vin check out the places they stayed at. He would do the most through inspection, even if no one else understood what he was looking for. When he found out Vin was a Sentinel, Chris had read whatever Josiah could get him on the subject. Now he knew that Vin was staking out his territory and searching for anything that would cause either problems or present a danger to his tribe. Here, where there wasn't any danger he thought it was kind of cute.

The look that Vin shot him let him know that as usual, the sniper knew what he was thinking and this time he wasn't amused. "I'm takin' the floor," was all he said and went back to the van for his gear.

While he was occupied, Josiah silently directed JD to one side of the cabin and Ezra to the other. They both went without complaint, even though it meant that Ezra was bunking with Chris, something that he was never too sure about. They all knew that Josiah was doing his best to identify Vin's Guide.

Vin glared at his brothers when he walked back into the cabin. They weren't being subtle; not that they ever were but this was getting stupid. "Quit staring, ya look like a little gal took a board ta the back a yer heads an' ya don't know what ta do about it."

While JD snickered at the image the rest of the Seven went back to setting up their bunks and stashing the rest of their camping equipment. 'Most of the equipment probably wasn't needed, this was a safe campground. There wasn't a terrorist group or a drug dealer's hideout nearby. And why did I think that?' JD groaned. He knew better, he really did. It never failed. He had just cursed the entire trip.

"What's wrong? Did ya forget to call Casey or did you just realize there isn't any electricity for your laptop?" Buck asked. If it was the first he would be more than willing to help him fix that, but if it was the second JD was in for a terrible ribbing.

"Nope, I just thought the worst thing that I could have thought of; at least where our camping trips are concerned. I think I cursed us." JD said miserably. It wasn't that he really believed in curses, it was more the fact that they had yet to take a trip without a serious injury or other problems. They always seemed to stumble on illegal activities of some sort and usually someone got hurt. Heck, the office back in Denver even had a betting pool on just what kind of trouble they would run into. JD knew for a fact that even the Judge got in on it.

"Don't you dare say it out loud John Daniel," Josiah rumbled. "The gods of luck and chance may over look a thought, but they won't if you say it." JD didn't bother to look over his shoulder, he knew that Josiah wasn't the only one glaring at him. It was a bad idea to tempt lady luck, especially when they traveled.

"This is a business trip," Ezra said hesitantly. "Perhaps that will be enough to make them overlook your small error Mr. Dunne." Silently everyone hoped that he was right and sent up their own pleas for a firefight free trip. Ezra turned towards the door, intending to go and get the rest of his luggage and tripped over Vin who was setting up his sleeping bag on the floor.

"Well, that settles that," Josiah rumbled as he watched Vin and Ezra untangle themselves, both of them snarling at each other. "Sentinel, meet Guide." The announcement shocked them all enough that they stared at Josiah while the two on the floor froze.

"Ya sure?" "Are you quite certain, Mr. Sanchez?"

"Take a look at just where Vin's sleeping bag is," Josiah directed. "It's directly in the path of anyone wanting to get from Ezra's bunk to the only door. On the other hand, there is a clear path to JD's bunk." They all looked, but Josiah was right. Vin's sleeping bag was where he had said, which was why Ezra and Vin were now on the floor.

"Well, that's solved at any rate. Good, I wasn't really looking forward to bringing in someone new to the team." Murmurs of agreement came from all directions at Chris' words. None of them liked working with outsiders all that much and the thought of being forced, even for the good of one of their own, to accept a stranger into their midst wasn't something any of them wanted to think about. "Let's get down to that fire pit and get some food."

Chris led the others out, intending to give Vin and Ezra (easily the most private men on the team) some time alone. Sitting up from where they had lain sprawled on the cabin floor they just looked at one another while the others left. "Ya ok with this?" Vin asked nervously. He hadn't thought it through when he was wishing that one of his brothers would be his shaman.

"I would be honored, Vin," Ezra said, daring to call the younger man by his nickname for the first time. "That is, if you don't mind?" he asked fearfully. He truly did want to be Vin's Guide. He couldn't think of anything he'd rather be. Vin was his closest friend in a world that held far too few.

"I'es hopen ya'd say that," Vin answered with a shy grin. Smiling they got up and joined their brothers.


	13. Chapter 13

Guardians of the World 13

When the ATF guys got to the fire pit it was fairly obvious that something important had happened. For one thing they were all a lot more relaxed. For another, Tanner was at the end of the line rather than at the front. Now, that wouldn't mean much of anything if he hadn't been the group's Sentinel and if he hadn't been staying in between his group and everyone else, meaning Jim and Fraser. Blair watched them as they joked around and the big agent with the mustache tackled and wrestled the youngest member of the team to the ground. The fact that his boss just stepped over them and continued on (and the fact that the others weren't even that considerate) told Blair that this was fairly common behavior.

Fraser and Jim both tried to move in front of their Guides without drawing any attention to themselves. Needless to say they failed. Blair and Ray both gave them affectionate glares before shrugging at each other. It wasn't worth the hassle to point out the fact that they really didn't need to be so over protective of their Guides just now.

Chris sat down on one of the logs near Fraser, muttering about how he was supposed to be in charge of an ATF team, not a kindergarten class. Ray looked over at him from his position sandwiched between his Sentinel and Dr. Sandburg and said, "At least you don't have the Ice Queen's job."

"Ray," Fraser began, only to have Ray cut him off.

"Fraser, I only got one word for ya, Turnbull." The amused glance they shared was enough to intrigue Larabee.

"You are correct, Ray. Turnbull is much more difficult to deal with than any of these men," Fraser conceded.

"At least he's gonna make Frannie a great wife." Ray knew that would get Fraser's goat but he wouldn't be able to dispute it. Fraser rubbed his eyebrow with the back of his thumbnail and sighed. He couldn't dispute it and he had long since given up chastising Ray for calling the Inspector names, especially after through finding out through their bonding that as far as name calling went Ray was being polite. Ray had wanted to call her a ball breaking bitch, but didn't for his sake.

"Oh you can't leave that there!" Buck exclaimed as he dragged himself and JD onto a log. The other men agreed as they sat down on the logs beside Chris.

Ray laughed as Fraser groaned and hid his face in his hands. "I don' know how the guy ever made it inta da Mounties, but he's a flake. He's da only one I know who wears a apron over his dress uniform and likes ta dust. He squeals like a girl every time he gets excited. He's great at pushin' papers but he's a klutz. He can't even walk through a room without somethin' happenin'. On the other hand he's more loyal dan a dog,"

"Don't let Deif here you say that," Fraser interrupted.

"I ain't dat stupid, Frase. And I was one a da guys who had to clean up da mess he made when some idjets tried to mug him and the Ice Queen once. He picked 'em up and played wack a mole with 'em while given 'em a lecture on how ta behave around a lady." Ray shook his head. "I still can't figure dat one out but at least I know my sister's ok datin' him." He threw a grin over at his Sentinel. "And she's quit chasin' you," he pointed out.

"They are well suited, Ray." That was the only thing Fraser could bring himself to say. He wasn't about to touch the subject of himself and Francesca Vechio in front of strangers, or how glad he was that she had stopped throwing herself at him when she began to date Turnbull.

Robert Fraser wasn't a happy man; well make that not a happy ghost. He understood what Ray Vechio had been asked to do and why he was doing it, but still watching him consort with these low life criminals as 'The Bookman' was enough to have his Mountie instincts in a bind. Detective Ray Vechio was doing his duty, a job that only he could do as he was the exact double of the mob man who had died in a car wreck in Chicago. That was something to admire, but that didn't mean he had to like his son's best friend being put in this situation.

He wished with all of his heart that he could just step up and arrest these men. The cop was a good actor, he had to acknowledge. If he hadn't known that Vechio was an undercover cop he would have never guessed. Of course it helped that he had been watching the man throw up in the bathroom not twenty minutes ago when the talk turned to how the family was going to silence someone.

He thought back to that incident and the unshielded look that had been on Vechio's face. The man had to get out of here soon. Maybe he could meddle a little, not too much of course, but perhaps with a little help from some of his ghost friends. Making plans he let himself fade further into the borderlands.

The mob men never noticed that he was there. In fact, the only one who did was the cat that was being petted by Vechio. And all Vechio wanted was for the meeting to end so he could take some antacids for his stomach. No one had told him how badly being under cover could mess with your stomach. Good thing that Armando already had a reputation as a Tums man.

That was the reason why Vechio had never had to participate in the uglier aspects of the Iguana family businesses. Armando was the accountant to the family, going over every little financial detail, but he wasn't a hit man nor did he take part in any illegal dealings himself. He didn't mind hearing about things, although Ray wished that Armando had a rep for a tender stomach rather than heart burn so he didn't have to hear the gorier details. But Armando had relished the gorier details that Ray Vechio wanted nothing to do with, details that the feds wanted.

So, he sat and listened and held onto his stomach for as long as he could, then he would go and throw up and come back for more. Dear Lord above, he just wanted this assignment to be over.


	14. Chapter 14

Maggie Mackenzie wished she wasn't stuck alone on her current assignment. Anyone would have been welcome company, even the newest raw recruit. Tracking poachers was a part of the job and one she was good at, but this group was quite a ways ahead of her and she had been on her own for the last week tracking them down. Isolation wasn't uncommon for her, having been born and bred in the Territories, but she'd never gone this long without human contact, or inhuman for that matter. She hadn't seen her father's ghost in a while nor had she brought one of her sled dogs with her.

Sometimes over the last week she had wondered if her superior officers were trying to find out if she was a Sentinel like her brother. If that was the case, she wished they had just asked her. She had wondered herself and had gone to the local tribe's shaman for advice. He had calmly informed her that she was indeed a watchman like her brother, and she would find her Guide in the same city that he had found his. While she was looking forward to seeing Ben again, she wasn't looking forward to going to Chicago.

Up ahead she could see the group of poachers she was tracking getting into a plane. She was too late; they would be in the air before she got close enough to stop them. That didn't mean that she would stop tracking them though. Fraser may never have been on her birth certificate, but she was her father's daughter through and through.

She took enough pictures with the long range lens of her camera to make sure that the plane and the men boarding it were documented and then continued on her way towards their camp. If she could just hear what they were saying; she knew it was dangerous, but she really didn't see much choice, she had to know where they were going.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Blair had run several tests, but Josiah was right; Ezra was Vin's Guide. And that meant that he had to clear out the campgrounds for a day or so. It would be easy to get rid of Fraser and Ray. They would understand that Vin and Ezra would need time alone having so recently gone through the bonding themselves. It was the rest of Team Seven that he wasn't so sure about.

There were several ways he could go about it, he thought as he leaned back on the couch in the living room of the loft. Jim was watching a basketball game with the sound practically off again, but he didn't mind. Thinking of something to do with the rest of Team Seven was more important than a game, even if it was the Jags.

"Simon's at the door, Chief."

Throwing a mock glare at Jim, Blair got up and opened the door before Simon could knock on it. He knew Jim did it to tease the man and he had gotten so used to it that he'd be worried if Jim didn't answer the door before he could knock, but did Jim have to send him to the door instead of getting it himself? On the other hand, it wouldn't do to have Simon get complacent now would it?

The momentary stare was worth the price of getting off the couch, Blair decided as he moved to let the man in. "One of these days Sandburg," Simon grouched quietly. "How are things going with our guests?" he asked as he sat down on the second couch facing Ellison and Sandburg.

"Pretty good Simon," Blair said. Then he suddenly smiled at Simon, who started wondering if he needed a seatbelt for this trip into the Sandburg zone. "But we're going to need a little help and you're just the guy we need for the job. Or rather, you're the boss of the guys we need for the job." It was a great idea, a brilliant idea. Now all he had to do was convince Simon.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Chris and Vin were sitting down by the creek. "Ya gonna tell me what's on yer mind Cowboy or do ya expect me ta read minds now?" Vin drawled after waiting for the verdict.

"I'm not to sure I want to leave you and Standish alone here for two days to do something no one wants to talk about," Chris admitted.

"It ain't nothin' bad Chris. What's the one thing you always worried about when Ezra goes under?"

Chris glared. "You know damned good and well that he can get in trouble just by sitting down at a table! Either he comes out with the perps wrapped up with a ribbon or he's near death! Stupid, stubborn," Chris' curses dropped down to a mutter.

Vin let him get it out of his system. He knew how Ezra could get Chris going without even trying. "Chris, you and me, we'll always be heart brothers. But after me and Ez go through this, we'll share one soul."

"One soul?" Chris looked at Vin. "It's bad enough when you two get together to pull those pranks and don't look at me like that! I know the two of you are behind them. You're worse than Buck and JD sometimes."

Vin grinned, he wasn't going to comment on the pranking he and Ezra did. "Yep, lookin' forward ta it ta tell ya the truth. Guardians, we ain't whole til we get our Shaman, our Guide like Professor Sandburg calls em. Once we're done though, I'll know if anyone hurts Ez, no matter how far apart we are. It's a gift given ta us by the Great Spirit so we ken look after our tribe and each other. Ya ain't gonna have ta worry so much about us Chris."

"No offence to Professor Sandburg, but does Josiah know about this? What goes on I mean?" There was no way he wanted either of his brothers to go into this alone.

"Chris, Professor Sandburg is a Shaman, not just a college geek out fer a thrill," Vin gave Chris an uncompromising glare. "He ain't only gone through this hisself, he also was the Shaman fer Fraser and Ray. He done good fer them, he'll do good fer me and Ez."

Chris knew he wasn't going to get any farther when Vin started looking like that, damned stubborn mule of a Texan. "I just wish you two had some back up that's all," he said, not really wanting to apologize but knowing Vin wouldn't accept anything less.

"We'll be ok, Mother Hen."


	15. Chapter 15

Simon Banks didn't know which was worse, handling the situation of Mayor Jensen's brother or trying to teach a so called seminar on Sentinel and Guide care. He hadn't known when he'd backed Ellison having Sandburg as a ride a long how it would send his world into a series of crazy twists and turns worse than any roller coaster but now he wouldn't trade the ride for anything. Even if it meant having to teach other people how to deal with the craziness that was inherent in living and working around a Sentinel and Guide pair.

The situation with the Mayor's brother on the other hand was nothing more than a pain for everyone involved, including Mayor Jensen. She hadn't liked the results of the preliminary investigation, but had accepted it knowing that not only had the best detective team in her city been on the case but two other Sentinels as well. Their findings had all been backed up by the forensics lab. Her brother had been high and had tried to rape his girlfriend. She had defended herself and had tried to get rid of the body because he was the mayor's brother and hadn't wanted to go to jail for defending herself.

Mayor Jensen had gone to the girlfriend and told her that she didn't blame her for her brother's death. Simon, on the other hand, she had come down on like a load of bricks. "Find out who gave my brother those drugs Banks! I want them in jail, actually I want them dead but jail will have to do."

Simon wouldn't have wished that situation on anyone he knew. It couldn't have been easy to lose a brother like that and for the Mayor to have found the body, he shuddered. Connor and Taggart had the lead on the case but everyone from Major Crimes was involved in chasing down leads. It was beginning to look like James Jensen was involved in a lot more than the recreational use of drugs.

"Simon, Team Seven is here," Rhonda said as she poked her head in the door to his office.

"Thanks Rhonda. Do you want to get in on this, or shall I just get all of my detectives out of your hair?" Simon smiled. He knew just how much Rhonda and the other support personnel liked Blair. He had shamelessly played on it before and no doubt would do so again, but it never paid to piss off his secretary. Her ideas of revenge were brutal.

"Oh, don't worry. I want to be in on this one. I can't wait to see what you've come up with." The grin on her face was enough to make Simon groan. He wasn't looking forward to this no matter how much anyone else was.

"Alright everyone, conference room three," Simon bellowed as he walked out of his office. "Team Seven, welcome to Major Crimes, you already know me and most of these jokers from the last time you were here so if you see anyone you don't know introduce yourself." As most of Team Seven was already scattered among the members of Major Crimes, laughing and joking that wasn't difficult to do. The hardest part of moving them was separating Buck from Conner, although she was giving as good as she got with the ladies man.

"Ok people, welcome to Sentinel and Guide care 101," Simon began as he stood at the head of the room. This was the conference room used for department meetings and task forces, thankfully more of the former than the later. "I have a feeling most of our time here is going to be spent trading stories rather than really learning about the so called rules but there are a few you need to know and treat as gospel. Number one and it is the most important of all. Don't mess with the Guide.

"Now what does that mean? Basically it means that Guides tend to be trouble magnets and a Sentinel who is upset will treat even the slightest hint of danger, hostility or just plain messing with as a life and death situation. Now we call this Blessed Protector Mode, if you give the Guide a wide berth in a hands off fashion, basically no pranks, no major teasing, no pounding on his back (all of which he had seen Team Seven do to Standish) and most important don't get in between the Guide and the Sentinel then you won't trigger a kill or dismember response. The Sentinel is genetically programmed to protect the Guide from everything, including himself. The reason for that is the Guide is the Sentinel's main and most important link to sanity.

"Gentleman, I have personally seen first hand what an insane Sentinel can do. It is not pretty." Team Seven looked around at the grim sound of agreement that came from the Major Crimes detectives. Whatever had happened had affected the entire unit that was obvious. "The second rule is that reverse is also true. Guides have their own Blessed Protector mode and they will defend their Sentinel well past what is reasonable. If one is injured, the other will go through anyone and anything to get to the side of the injured partner. I have seen Blair Sandburg, the most peaceful guy on the face of the planet, tear into people who have injured Ellison with his bare hands and Ellison is just as bad. From what little I've managed to read over the last three years, which seems to be typical of Sentinel and Guide pairs. So, keep them together and don't get between them. Be aware that they will go a little nuts if one or the other is in danger. Just how they will react depends on their personalities. Any questions?" Simon stepped back to open the floor.

"What do you mean a Sentinel is programmed to protect a Guide from himself?" Chris asked, he thought that was the one thing they'd have the most trouble with, stubborn Texan.

"The thing with the press conferences is the perfect example. While the press and publishers were hounding Sandburg wanting him to give them his dis and Ellison for being the Sentinel featured in the dis, Ellison was pushing Sandburg to take the money, fame and the brass ring even though the idea of loosing Sandburg was killing him. It blew up in their faces, mostly because they weren't talking to each other. A Sentinel will sacrifice everything to keep his Guide safe and happy, even if it is his own needs he's giving up. Notice I didn't say wants, I said needs. For their Guide they will give up food, sleep, and even air if they think it is best for the Guide. That is the single strongest instinct they have, Protect the Guide." Simon knew he had to be blunt. These men would be taking care of their own Sentinel and Guide pair and to do that they needed to know the bad with the good.

"Again, the opposite is true. The Guide will give up everything for the Sentinel. That was why Sandburg gave his press conference in the first place. He could see how the situation was blowing up in Ellison's face. How he couldn't work being hounded all the time and how a perp got away because of the damned reporters. So he sacrificed his career to save his Sentinel."

"Course, Jim wouldn't let that stand which is why we're here. He gave up all hope of his privacy and everything else because anthropology is so important to Sandy," Conner chimed in.

"Oh hell, I'm going to be hauling both of them out of Purgatorio aren't I?" Chris moaned while the rest of the group snickered.

"Hell Stud, if that's the only thing we gotta do, I say we should count our blessings!" Buck laughed.

"Purgatorio?" H asked.

"It's the worst neighborhood in Denver," Josiah rumbled. "Vin lives down there and he works with the kids, the gangs, pretty much everyone who wants his help to make it a better place. Even the local PD won't go in there after dark but nothing keeps Vin out."

"He keeps telling us it ain't so bad," JD snorted, "like we're not going to believe our own eyes and ears."

"Well, he does have a point that there are a lot of good people who live down there," Nathan pointed out. "The families who live in his building are really good people."

The rest rumbled in agreement. The families who lived in Vin's building really relied on Vin and for more than just access to his home computer for the kids homework. Vin did things like fix plumbing, mediated arguments, and gave everyone a big brother looking out for them. Now it looked like Ezra would be joining him. They had no idea how that would work, but there was one thing that was for sure, Vin's work in Purgatorio was important to him and now it would be important to Ezra as well. Not that it hadn't been before, but while Vin was welcomed, the rest of the Seven were treated with a stand offish acceptance. They were welcome only as long as they were good to Vin. Now the work down there would become a bigger part of their family.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Some of the particulars of Vin and Ezra's bonding memories comes from the wonderful ATF stories by Retirw, used with her permission and my thanks. Check them out if you want to find out some of the details and have a really good laugh. She's wonderful!

Chapter 16

Maggie came too tied up in the hold of an airplane. She knew it had been risky getting so close to the camp but she had been more concerned about getting lost in the spirit world than getting caught. 'When I get out of this I'm requesting leave time. I can't be so worried about being lost in the spirit world that I let the perpetrators get the drop on me. There is no choice; I have to go to Chicago. I only hope Ben knows who my shaman is supposed to be.'

"What are we gonna do about the broad?" the voice came from the other side of the hold. Maggie froze her attempts to untie herself.

"She's a looker so we'll turn her over to Jensen. No one's going to be looking for her and he likes blonds. When he's done with her he can sell her if he likes. I'm sure he can use his contacts to sell off a girl as quick as he does these animal parts," a second voice said.

'Wonderful, a miscreant is going to give me as a present to his fence," Maggie thought to herself.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Nervous did not begin to cover the deep emotional turmoil that Ezra was attempting to hide behind his poker face as he took the shower that was the first step in this ancient ritual he was about to perform with Vin. He could only thank whoever was looking out for undercover agents that no one had mentioned the word 'wedding' in regards to the ceremony in the hearing of his other team mates. It was bad enough that it was running through his own mind. This ceremony would bind him together with Vin for the rest of their lives, according to Vin and according to Dr. Sandburg it was absolutely necessary to establish a fully functional Sentinel and Guide bond. He would do nothing that would jeopardize that bond and Vin with it. He knew that having a bond with Vin was necessary for Vin's health. Right now he should just be grateful that the ceremony did not include being doused with COLD water out of some stream out in the middle of no where, he told himself.

"Might I enquire as to the reason behind this particular aspect of this ceremony, Doctor Sandburg?" Ezra asked as he finished his unusual shower. He had been given strict instructions to use no soap, shampoo, conditioner or other modern cleanser. In fact, he had cleaned himself with nothing but clean sand, something that he was particularly unhappy about but was putting up with for Vin's sake.

Blair smiled. It seemed that Jim was right; the questions from those going into the bonding ceremony did take the same general course with changes being dictated by the personalities of those involved. "By cleaning with sand rather than a modern cleanser you remove any trace of those cleansers and anything else that might be on you. Right now you are clear of any trace of anything other than yourself. No smell of gun oil, no perfumes from shampoo or cologne, you aren't giving off any trace of sensory information other than what is there naturally which is of utmost importance right now. It will help to make sure that Vin doesn't get distracted by something you're wearing."

"And that is important," Ezra stated rather than questioned. He was silent for a short time thinking. "It will also help him to establish a true baseline for me. Quite often when I am undercover I must use items that I would never personally use. Vin must be able to sense me inspite of that." Blair merely nodded. He hadn't thought about that but it was true. Vin would find it more difficult to pinpoint Ezra if he was deliberately masking his normal sensory pattern.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

It only took one look for Jim Ellison to realize that Vin Tanner had been a Ranger. Not only did he have the tattoo common to most Rangers, (Jim didn't as he was allergic to most of the inks used in tattoos) but he had seen combat if the scars Tanner had were any indication. "I know we gotta go through this, but is it gonna hurt Ez any? Is he gonna need anything after?" Vin asked as he took his shower.

"No, it won't hurt either of you but it will tire you both out. That's why we had your team leave for two days. By the time they get back, both of you will have recovered so they won't be fussing at you."

Vin smirked, "That won't stop 'em from fussin'. Nate's gonna wanna check us both out from top ta bottom when he gets back." Jim smiled and motioned him out of the shower. Jim couldn't help but be thankful that Cascade's weather, usually grey, if not downright wet, was cooperating with them this week as he led Vin to the tiny meadow. This last week had been warm and sunny or just slightly cloudy, an unexpected bonus when doing the bonding ceremony. Once more he stood watch as Blair led another Sentinel and Guide to the spirit plane. He really didn't want to have to do this in the rain and he didn't want to think about the probable illnesses those who were bonding would catch if the weather hadn't cooperated.

This time the scene was the high desert where a bobcat and a red fox were waiting. Without waiting for the men to get their bearings, they leaped at each other, the eagerness of their actions reflecting their men's moods. Then the past of each man was poured into the mind of the other.

Ezra saw Vin's mother, her death and his promise to always remember he was a Tanner; his time in foster care; the abuse that ended in his being locked in closet for nearly a week before he was rescued which had brought his gifts on line and had also been the cause of his claustrophobia, his time living near the reservation where he had received what little training he had; running away from yet more abuse and his time on the streets; his time in the Rangers and learning the hard way that you should shoot yourself before you throw up on your sergeant because it was less painful, his encounter with a persuasive lady and her large English Mastiff; moving to Purgatorio and taking up the guardianship there where it was needed most; becoming a bounty hunter; saving Nathan the first time he met the team and the adventures and home Vin had found with his new brothers.

Vin saw Ezra's lonely and sometimes abusive childhood where his mother had gone from husband to con to husband, leaving Ezra whenever he was an inconvenience with whoever would take him regardless of the circumstances; his role in Romeo and Juliet in an all boys boarding school; Maude's chiding to never lower yourself to manual labor and her horror at his enrollment in the air force, his rise to the rank of lieutenant and learning how to fly; attending Quantico and deciding on undercover work as it both used his God given talents and horrified Maude even more than joining the armed forces had; his first big bust which he conducted while wearing only a tablecloth and the one where he had to dress as a woman; the FBI's betrayal and Chris offering him a job with the team, Vin's phone call that had pulled him in for reasons that he couldn't understand at the time but were now perfectly clear; his time with the team and becoming a member of their strange family.

Jim and Blair watched as Vin and Ezra finally fell asleep in each other's arms, exhausted. They would keep watch until morning when they would move the two back to their cabin to sleep, or talk, or whatever they needed to do to adjust to the new bond between them.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Ray Vechio should have been stunned at the headlines, (they were dated earlier in the week but he hadn't had time to check the news on line recently), but he wasn't. Benny, his best buddy and freaky Canadian partner was a Sentinel, one of the Supercops that had most of the mob here in Vegas in a tizzy. "What's so funny Armando?" Jake asked. Jake was one of the guards that came with the job. The personal guards that Langoustine had with him in Chicago had died with him in the multiple car crash, which had given Jake a promotion from outside guard to personal guard.

"You know how Poppa was saying that Ellison was the only one of those Supercops we'd have to worry about and how Cascade wasn't a city we were involved in so everyone should just settle down and get back to work? Well, look at this," Ray said as he turned his laptop towards Jake.

"Chicago, but he's a Mountie, so he's not going to be working on cases, right? I mean, it says that he works at the Canadian Consulate."

"Jake, Jake my friend, even with what little time I spent in Chicago last year, I heard about the Mountie. He's a legend and the son of a legend to boot. He works cases in Chicago out of the 27th precinct with one of their detectives. The cases they take on get solved. And the good lord help the guys they go after cause the Mountie, he don't give up. I heard one story about how he tracked a litterbug across half of Canada just to give him a ticket. Here," Ray printed out the article, "go and give this to Poppa and tell him what I told you. This changes things and he needs to know about it."

Ray turned back to his laptop as Jake left the room in a hurry. 'Well, I really should have known the minute they started talking about Ellison, Benny. He sounds like he could have been your brother. I sure hope for the sake of Cascade's crooks and his boss that he isn't as bad as you are.'

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Brian Emerson was a good handler. He had been trained by the best and he had lived up to that example after the old man had passed. So why was he dreaming that old man Jackson was standing by his bedside and shaking his head? There wasn't anything that he was doing that Jackson could be upset with him over, he tried to tell himself. He tried, but he couldn't convince himself that was the truth. He knew it was time to pull Vechio but the guys upstairs wanted more even though they had enough to convict. Vechio was looking bad and trying to put a good face on it. God, what should he do?


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

'It was just supposed to be a relaxing day of hiking in the woods; let the fur face run, get Frase out of the city, and keep the team seven guys out of Tanner and Standish's hair for a day. They were NOT supposed to run into poachers. He and JD were NOT supposed to end up tied up while the poachers argued about what to do with them. And most important of all,' Ray Kowalski fumed to himself, 'he was NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SEPARATED FROM HIS SENTINEL!'

Warmth invaded his heart and his mind like an extra hard hug. It was Fraser reminding him that they could never be truly separated again. There was an undercurrent of raw rage that Ray instinctively tried to sooth. He wasn't hurt, too badly anyway. And JD was playing the blubbering kid role to the hilt. Ray 'sent' a proud feeling back through their bond. 'This 'kid' definitely had what it took. Get a few years on him and he'd make his team a great undercover agent. Hell, he probably did that now with roles that the older men were too old to pull off.'

While Fraser agreed with Ray's assessment, he couldn't help feeling a towering wrath at the men who had dared to lay hands on HIS GUIDE!

As peaceful as he normally was, they were going to pay for that and pay dearly. He used his sight to plan his entry into the camp where the poachers had his Guide tied up and bleeding. 'There are only five tents surrounding a fire pit,' he mused.

"Can you hear what's going on down there?" Buck interrupted Fraser's planning as he fidgeted with his moustache. He was worried both because JD and Ray (who had become a good friend over the last few days) had been captured and because the look on Fraser's face forcibly reminded him of the Sentinel 101 that he and the others had sat through the day before. He had never thought he'd ever see anyone look scarier than Chris, much less someone who was normally as nice and polite as the Mountie was.

"They hurt Ray," Fraser growled and the four men who were with him were startled to hear the wolf beside him growl at the same time. Fraser took a breath and tried to focus. "Agent Dunne seems to be relatively unharmed. I can't smell any blood other than Ray's and his heart rate, at least I'm assuming it is his heart rate as it is the one closest to Ray's, is only slightly elevated. He is being very convincing as a half hysterical teenager however. Ray is very impressed. Whoever took the time to instruct him on undercover roles did an excellent job."

"That would be Standish," Chris said shortly. "What are they telling the poachers?"

"That they are simply a father and son out hiking for the day and that they'll do whatever the poachers want if they just won't hurt them. The poachers are convinced that they are simply harmless civilians and that the guns the poachers found on them are ones that Ray snuck out of their home so he could teach his son how to shoot without his wife being aware of it."

The others nodded. They knew that Ray was an accomplished undercover officer and they had seen both Ezra and JD pull off such cons before on criminals. "You sure they have your sister down there somewhere?" Josiah asked as he carefully checked his gun. He didn't need to be so very careful. It was how he was trying to control his temper. Little sisters were a weakness of his and he knew that to hurt the sister of a friend of his (or Lord forbid, his own baby sister) was a sure fire way to trigger his massive temper.

"Over there, in the tan tent with the poacher's merchandise and drugs." Fraser shot Josiah a torn look. "Would you please make sure that she's alright? I, I have to focus on Ray," he stammered, trying to make them understand that while he wanted to rescue his sister, there was something that was both pushing him away from her and pulling him towards his Guide.

"I understand, son. He's your Guide and Guides have to come first with their Sentinels. That's the way it has always been and that's the way it will always be," Josiah rumbled gently. He was grateful that Fraser had asked him to look after his little sister. He was going to enjoy teaching these men the worth of a lady, and any woman related to Fraser must be a lady of the highest order.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

With Fraser and Ray taking care of the mobile portion of Team Seven (Tanner and Standish were still sleeping) Blair and Jim were reporting for their first full day back on the job as Cascade's Sentinel and Guide team. They walked side by side into the Major Crimes bullpen only to find a party with quiet a few people from other departments as well as the members of Major Crimes instead of the expected sight of a bustling crew of working detectives and uniformed officers. The cheers as they walked in were loud and boisterous and while the sign hanging over Simon's office door was a decorous 'Congratulations Dr. Sandburg' the cake that was proudly displayed said 'Way to go Hairboy!'.

"Ok, what are we celebrating?" Blair asked as Jim hauled him over to the cake and he thanked Rhonda as she handed him a cake knife.

"You've got a lot to celebrate Sandburg, and what better place to do it than here?" Simon said. "Not only are you NOT a fraud, you've finally after years of hard work, both here and at the University, gotten that PhD. You and Jim have had TWO other Sentinel and Guide pairs to teach and not one of them has been off their rocker." A cheer went up at the mention of the sane Sentinels and their Guides. "You have finally finished your schooling. Of course you've started your own but who's counting?"

That qualifier got the expected snickers from the cops in the room and an eye roll from Blair. "Jim is finally back on duty full time which means he isn't constantly in your hair." Jim gave his own eye roll at that. "You got one hell of a settlement from the jerks who were making both your lives and ours hell." This time everyone joined in the cheers. No one had appreciated the way Blair had been treated by Rainer or the publishing company.

"And last, but definitely not least, I present you, Dr. Blair Sandburg, Anthropologist, Sentinel Expert, and Guide Extraordinaire," Simon handed Blair a packet of papers with a flourish, "one official job offer from the Cascade Police Department, to be negotiated at your convenience with the Chief and Commissioner. You'll be Jim's official partner and the department's consultant once you sign on the dotted line. It even comes with medical insurance."

"Better make sure it's a good plan, Professor!" shouted Rafe.

"Yeah Hairboy, with your luck you're gonna need it!" laughed H.

"Thanks guys, this is wonderful," Blair said, ignoring the reference to his trouble magnet status with long practice. He paused for a moment, "But I'm not cutting my hair." Amid the laughter Blair could hear cheers and the groans from the Robbery detectives as the Major Crimes crew demanded their winnings from the other departments. He couldn't believe that anyone would have bet that he would cut his hair, even if they were from another department.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Finally, the day he had been waiting for had come at last! Ray Vechio could have kissed Emerson when he got the message that he was being pulled out. They had enough and it was time to get out before he was found out and killed. Of course he knew that his life was over anyway. The feds really couldn't think that having some poor schmuck pretend to be him would work. The family would figure it out sooner or later and when they did he was going to be one dead Italian cop.

But it wasn't something he could have walked away from; especially after listening to those bastards laughing over killing people who's only real crime was that they did not want to be victims. They were hooking people's kids on drugs, selling their daughters into prostitution, squeezing protection money out of people who couldn't afford it. They had to be taken down; even if it cost him his life that was what being Benny's partner had taught him. Honor wasn't just a word and there were some things worth dying for. His only requests to God had been that it would be over soon and that he would be able to say goodbye to his family before they killed him.

Ray Vechio got into a cab and drove over to the restaurant that was where he was meeting Emerson. He didn't make it. Or at least, Armando didn't make it. The driver of the cab was a stunt driver hired by Emerson. By the time that he and his associates were done no one would believe anything other than Armando and the cab driver had died a horrible death in a fiery crash. Ray couldn't believe how good these people were. He was smuggled out of the cab so fast it had made his head spin. He wasn't allowed to stick around for the crash, but it was on the five o'clock news that he caught in his motel room. Even though he knew it had been staged, he still couldn't see how anyone could have walked away from the crash and he about drove Emerson up the wall asking if he was sure that the driver got out ok.

With cooperation from the Las Vegas morgue, the feds made sure that the Iguana family had a charred body to claim. The driver of course, the family hadn't asked about, other than to make sure that he had died as well. Ray was so astounded at Emerson's plan that he was beginning to think that just maybe, just maybe, he was going to survive this. 'I'm coming home, Ma. I'm coming home.' The sentence ran through his mind over and over. After a year he was finally going home.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Simon Banks hurried into Cascade General's ER. Unlike his usual trips to his people's second home, he wasn't there because one or more of his people had been injured. No, it seemed that ALL Sentinel and Guide teams were prone to running into trouble no matter where they went. He didn't know the full details yet but Tanner and Standish hadn't wanted to wait. Their teammates and brothers were hurt and they were determined to be there at the hospital with them.

"Grace, I'm looking for Chris Larabee, Buck Wilmington, Nathan Jackson, Josiah Sanchez, JD Dunne, Benton Fraser and Ray Kowalski. They were supposed to be brought here about 20 minutes ago." Grace Moralez had been the ER reception nurse for the last ten years. Because of this she had seen a lot of cops come through the ER and she knew most of the Cap. and Lt.'s by sight if not by name.

Simon Banks was different. As often as Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg had come through her domain she had gotten to know their captain very well. "Somehow, Simon I knew you'd be here soon. Those poor boys have worse luck than your two." She pulled a stack of charts to her. "First of all, I'm only telling you this information because H and Rafe brought them in and they said that you were in charge of the conference the injured men were here for. The men they arrested are over there," she pointed off to her left. "They're mostly alright but there isn't one that doesn't have missing teeth, or broken ribs, or something and one's even been bitten by Constable Fraser's police dog," here she paused to let Simon know with a look that she knew damned good and well that Dief wasn't a dog nor did he 'work' for Constable Fraser, "in the ass. They're going to be released into police custody as soon as the doctor is finished with them.

"Now for the men you asked about; Chris Larabee, ATF, has a twisted knee. He ducked a punch and tripped over an otter. Buck Wilmington, ATF, is up in surgery having a steel trap removed from his left arm; it's broken in several places. Josiah Sanchez, ATF, don't ask me how but he got into a bear hug contest with one of the perps. He has broken ribs; the perp has broken ribs and a concussion. Nathan Jackson, ATF Medic, 2 x 4 to various parts of his anatomy; he's only got bruises but watch him cause that poor boy really shouldn't even be moving but he's busy fussing over the rest of them. JD Dunne, ATF, and by the way that is the youngest looking federal agent I've ever seen in my life. He has rope burns, bumps and bruises.

"Benton Fraser, RCMP, has no injuries but refuses to leave Ray Kowalski. I read in the paper that he's a Sentinel like Ellison, so that's the way we're treating him. Ray Kowalski, Chicago PD, gun shot wound to the thigh; it's a simple through and through. He shouldn't have too much trouble with that. He's also got rope burns, bumps, bruises and a concussion. The victim, Maggie Mackenzie, RCMP, has a possible previous concussion, rope burns, a twisted ankle from where she tripped one of the perps, and she was drugged. We're keeping her and Kowalski here for observation. Wilmington will have to stay for a while but his is the worst injury. The rest should be able to leave in an hour or so."

"Not until Buck's ready ta come with us," Vin said.

"I concur madam." Ezra said. "Our brothers have made it a long standing practice not to leave a fallen brother in the hospital or clinic alone until he has reached the level of health necessary for the attending physician to permit him to be discharged. In the case of a few of our brothers it is in fact the only way to ensure that our ill brother remains in the medical establishment in which he has been treated." He had no intention of telling this elderly lady that he and Vin were the worst when it came to that sort of behavior. A battleaxe like she no doubt was didn't need that sort of knowledge.

Vin snorted at the dumfounded look on the nurses face. "He means some a us tend ta try an' walk out on ya. Ya want 'em ta stay put ya gotta put up with all a us. Put Buck in a big room an' if ya kin make sure he gets male nurses or ladies who don't mind him flirtin' with 'em. Ifen ya got one, a recliner'd be a good idea fer Chris since he's supposed ta stay offen that leg a his. 'Siah and Nate'll need more comfortable chairs then ya normally get in a hospital too. Me, Ez and JD'll make due with whatever ya got on hand." Suddenly Vin cocked his head in a very familiar posture.

hearing Chris' voice, "Lady I don't care! Just give me a pair of crutches and an AMA form!"

Vin shook his head and turned to Ezra, "Cowboy just yelled fer an AMA, Nate's with 'Siah and JD's by hisself waitin' fer Bucklin. You wanna go tell JD this ain't his fault or ya wanna go run rings around the nurse fer the Cowboy?"

Ezra blanched. There were few things that could make him turn tail and run, but this was one of them. "I believe I shall keep Mr. Dunne company. The last time I assisted one of our brothers in his premature escape Mr. Jackson was rather annoyed with me." Unspoken was the knowledge that getting in between Nathan Jackson and proper treatment for a patient of his was usually fatal. Only one of the Seven could do it and survive and even then he had better have a damned good reason. They nodded to each other and Vin said, "Third floor", then they both left, leaving Simon alone with Nurse Moralez.

Simon sighed, "Those two were Tanner and Standish, ATF Team Seven's Sentinel and Guide pair. Tanner is the Sentinel. He's not as bad as Ellison from what I've been able to see but for your sanity I suggest you go along with them if at all possible."

She groaned and said, "Please just tell me that Ellison and Sandburg aren't coming in needing treatment too!"

"They're out at the crime scene," Simon reassured her sympathetically.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Vin entered the ER triage room that held three of his teammates. Chris and Josiah occupied the two beds on one side of the room, with Nathan in a chair in between them. A woman and Ray Kowalski occupied the other two beds on the other side of the room, with Fraser sitting in between their beds. He could also see Dief peeking his head out from under Ray's bed.

With Ray being wounded and having to stay in the hospital (something Vin had already heard that he didn't want to do thanks to his hearing) he expected the hostile posturing his entrance to the ward produced in Fraser. What he hadn't expected was to get that same reaction from the woman. It wasn't until he realized that she was probably the RCMP Maggie Mackenzie that the nurse had talked about that he understood. Although the didn't have very much in common other than remarkable beauty and the same blue eyes, Maggie Mackenzie had to be Fraser's sister, or cousin or something. She was also an unbonded Sentinel and that was why his own hackles had risen.

Vin nodded to them both, acknowledging their right to Ray and proceeded to where his people were. "Ez is up with JD," he said to Chris, who had stopped arguing with the intern (not a nurse like Vin had thought) as soon as Vin had walked in. He turned to the lady intern. "We're going to the surgical waiting room. If they need wheelchairs, get 'em now!" He hadn't planned on backing Chris on getting out of the ER but there was no way that he was going to have any of them near an unbonded Sentinel, no matter who she was related to. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to get his people as far away from her as possible.

Of course, if she hadn't been so hostile, or if she'd been ovulating, he'd probably be having a different reaction. One that Vin was NOT looking forward to having. Unbonded or not, they were both Sentinels and out of their territories. In the old stories that the grandfather had told him it had been usual for a tribe that had a female Sentinel to send her out into neutral territory to attract a mate just so that the gifts would continue in their tribe. A male and female outside of their own territories were driven to mate if they sensed one another. If he was really, really lucky, they'd be shipping her back to Canada as quickly as possible.

"You heard the man," Josiah rumbled at the intern. Nathan didn't even bother to wait for her decision. He just took off and brought back two wheelchairs. He didn't know what had set Vin off, but then he didn't need to. Vin wasn't acting like himself. Normally he would never growl at a woman.

As they exited the elevator on the third floor all of them could hear Ezra trying to calm JD down. "Vin is not upset with you, JD. I don't know what's wrong but I do know that much. You know perfectly well that although we make references to our travel curse no such thing exists."

"Sides, he said I was upset, not mad kid. You need to pay better attention," Vin said as he parked Chris' wheelchair next to the couch where Ezra and JD were sitting. "And I am upset. That lady downstairs with Fraser and Ray is a Sentinel and she don't got a Guide. It makes me twitchy."

"She's Fraser's little sister," Josiah said. "She's a fine lady. You don't need to be worried about her brother."

Vin just stared straight ahead, "Ain't what I'm worried about," he mumbled. He could feel the boys watching him and he couldn't help the blush that stole over his face. That triggered the memory of Vin's foster grandfather telling Vin Sentinel stories for Ezra and he quickly caught on to the situation. Within moments he had successfully distracted the others from Vin by demanding to know how in the world they had managed to get into trouble without them.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

General George Hammond, commanding officer of the top secret military base under NORAD known as the SGC (Star Gate Command), looked up as his chief medical officer, a short brunet woman, walked into his office. "How are they doctor?" he asked quietly. His top team had been the subject of an experiment by an alien scientist (unfortunately that was a regular occurrence on a base that guarded an alien device that allowed exploration of other planets) and now they were recovering (he hoped) in the base infirmary.

"Major Carter, Teal'c, and Dr. Jackson are fine sir. I can find no lingering after effects of the armbands. I've given them a clean bill of health and cleared them to go back to duty." Janet Frasier, Major and CMO of the SGC had seen the team of SG1 go through a lot in the last few years and she knew that they would get each other through this one as well.

"And Colonel O'Neill?" he asked, braced for bad news.

"Colonel O'Neill is experiencing sensory spikes sir. I can't seem to chart his responses. One minute he's fine, the next he can't sense anything and the next his sensitivity is off the charts. The only correlation I've found is that when Dr. Jackson is present there are fewer spikes." She took a deep breath; this wasn't going to be easy, the SGC was supposed to be classified beyond top secret. "The only person that I know of who might be able to help the Colonel is Dr. Blair Sandburg. He's the specialist on Sentinels and that is the closest human condition that I can think of to explain what is happening to Colonel O'Neill."

"Could the armbands have turned Colonel O'Neill into a Sentinel doctor?" While out of necessity most of General Hammond's attention was directed towards keeping his planet safe from alien invasion as his people had made both friends and enemies off world, he did try to keep up with current events outside the mountain. He barely remembered the media coverage of Sentinels as he had been dealing with a missing SG team but he did remember that at the time one of Dr. Jackson's anthropologists had been making a big fuss about the discovery. If he recalled correctly it was about how something like this shouldn't have been in the hands of a grad student.

"I don't know enough about the causes of the Sentinel condition but I do know that it is directly linked to genetics. If the Colonel is a carrier of the necessary genes I would have thought that he would have had them triggered before now. That isn't to say that the proper conditions never happened in his life or that he hasn't come close before. I just don't know what to tell you sir. I can't find anything of an external nature that is causing this, so by process of elimination, I have to give him a tentative diagnosis of being a Sentinel. Sir, he needs help I can't give him. If Dr. Sandburg can't, I don't know what to tell you," she shrugged, helpless.

General Hammond sighed. He genuinely liked his second in command. Colonel Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill was sarcastic, loyal, unorthodox, and a genuinely good man. There were few people, who could ride the line between insubordinate and respectful, but Jack was a master at it and he had earned Hammond's loyalty, trust and friendship. With the help of his team, Jack had also saved their own planet and countless others more times than he could count. They all owed him every bit of help that they could find, beg or steal for him. "Call Dr. Sandburg and do whatever it takes to get him to take a look at Colonel O'Neill."

"Yes sir," Janet said and left his office. The grey walls of the old missile silo matched her mood. She hated it when she couldn't help her patients and SG1 were more than just patients, they were family. She paused at the open door to the infirmary, watching her friends gather around Jack. They were such a mismatched group. Jack was tall, had grey hair, and was a distinguished career soldier with an attitude that could switch from ten year old jokester to a special ops leader in seconds. Major Samantha Carter (Sam to her friends) was also a career soldier, although few would guess that the midsized woman with blond hair had a brain that could put Einstein to shame, or that she was as good a soldier as she was a scientist. Dr. Daniel Jackson was tall and fitter than any archeologist should have been, but after so many years of being thrown into combat when a first contact mission went bad it was no real surprise that he was now able to give most of the soldiers on the base a run for their money.

'Of course the fact that he was even smarter than Sam had something to do with it too,' Janet thought with amusement. 'If Sam has a brain that could beat Einstein's, then Daniel has one that comes along once every few thousand years or so. And one of the sweetest things about Daniel is that he's almost oblivious to it.' She turned her attention to the oldest member of the team and the only one that wasn't human. Teal'c was a Jaffa, one of the slave races of the Goa'uld, a parasitic race that took over human bodies and had a racial god complex. Teal'c looked like a large black human male with a shaved head and a raised gold tattoo on his forehead. It wasn't a tattoo, it was the mark of his slavery and Teal'c, like many slaves before him, was doing his best to give his people a chance at freedom. At nearly 100 years old he also had more combat experience than the rest of his teammates put together.

Janet did her best to walk quietly over to where Jack was lying on the hospital bed, holding on to Daniel's wrist and talking quietly with Sam. "I've talked to the general, sir."

"I'm ok right now Janet, you don't have to whisper. I don't know how long that'll last but so far so good," Jack didn't have the energy to be upbeat. He was exhausted from both the severity of the spikes and their randomness. He had no way to know when they would occur and there was no way for him to brace for the pain that they brought either.

"We need to contact a Dr. Blair Sandburg sir. I've tentatively diagnosed you as a Sentinel. He's the only expert in that area and he would need to examine you to confirm it. The good news is that if you are a Sentinel he'll know how to deal with this." Janet knew that she needed to be blunt with Jack; he hated it when doctors tried to talk around the situation. He was a man who needed facts.

"Is that possible?" Sam wanted to know. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what a Sentinel was but if O'Neill was one then he would do his best to ensure that he received any treatment that he needed.

"It is possible; the armbands did enhance our senses along with everything else. And once a Sentinel is brought on line, the ability wouldn't just shut itself off." Daniel said. He ran what he knew about Sentinels through his mind. "It isn't my area, but I think you're right Janet. That could be just what is happening and I know that Blair will keep quiet about whatever we need to tell him about the armbands, especially if we explain about the NID."

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

"I fail to understand just why we needed to leave so abruptly," Fraser said quietly to Ray. He didn't want to have this conversation on the plane but the last few hours once Blair had gotten them out of the hospital had been a whirlwind of taped depositions, reports, and last minute instructions from Blair and Jim. But at least Maggie was asleep and he could keep this between Ray and himself.

Ray sighed and closed the notebook that Blair had given him with a cheeky grin at the airport before they had left. The grin had been for the book's unofficial title, 'The Guide's Guide'. It was a collection of notes and situations that Blair had run into and there was space for him to add to it. As Blair had explained, they were really just getting started in understanding the practical aspects of both Sentinel and Guide. "All right, do you remember me tellin' ya ta remind me ta tell ya why ya went so nutso over Metcalf?"

Fraser winced and blushed. That was hands down the worst thing that he had ever gone through. Victoria Metcalf had been a bank robber that he had fallen in love with and only his sense of justice and duty had allowed him to turn her in. When she had next appeared in his life, he hadn't even been able to do that. He had nearly destroyed everything he cherished because of her. "Yes, you did say that Blair had explained something to you that presumably made the situation make sense."

"It's the same thing goin' on right now. This is how it works, you and Metcalf were holed up inside that ice cave waitin' fer that storm ta blow over and I'm guessin' that it was pretty close quarters," Ray paused and Fraser nodded. "So there wasn't enough air circulatin' outa dat cave fer her ah, damn it, what's that word, the girl smell that says make babies with me," Ray waved his hand in frustration.

"Pheromones, Ray?" Fraser asked puzzled.

"Yeah, dats it, pheromones, they didn't get cleared out enough. The stuff just kept buildin' up like gas fumes or somethin'. You, bein' a Sentinel, you're more sus, cis, it hits you harder. Then when she comes around again, you're already primed fer her smell and she's probably in heat or something, so it's even stronger. Ellison got hit once real bad, get this she was a diamond thief too." Ray opened his notebook and found the relevant chapter and handed it over to Fraser.

"Now, the problem isn't that we got another bank robbing chick around, it's dat Maggie is a Sentinel too and she and Vin are outa their territories. If Maggie were ta start goin' inta heat or whatever ya call it fer humans, then it could cause some serious problems fer both Maggie and Vin. Add in that Ellison wasn't too happy ta have a female Sentinel in his territory cause the last one he met was nuts and killed his Guide, and well, its better that we left as quick as possible." He took his glasses off and poked Fraser, "Don't even try to tell me ya weren't given Vin the eye cause he was checkin' Maggie out."

Fraser nodded; he had been sensing conflicting reactions from Vin and had tried to be unobtrusive in warning the man off. He wasn't surprised that Ray had picked up on it. "Don't worry about the case. They got all of our statements, reports and taped depositions from all three of us. If they need anything more, they'll call."

"Very well Ray," Fraser said and settled in to read about Ellison's unfortunate encounter. If he was lucky it would help make him feel better about his own.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

They were met at the airport by Lieutenant Welsh, Inspector Thatcher, and another Inspector that Fraser didn't know. Now that Fraser was more aware of his senses and what they could do, he felt an almost audible (to him at least) click when they stepped out of the airplane (and Ray was rolled off the plane in his wheelchair) and officially into Chicago. It seemed that to his senses at least, Chicago was home. That was a bit disturbing to him as he had never really thought about the city as home before. Yes, he had grown much more comfortable within its boundaries the longer he lived here, but home had been the Northwest Territories in Canada, not Chicago, USA.

"Hey, Lieu, Inspector," Ray greeted them as soon as they met their superiors at the gate, and then before anything more could be said he turned to Fraser. "Let's go get furface before he gets himself loose and goes after a kid's ice cream cone."

"Oh dear, yes that would be just like him to do that for not being allowed to ride with us," Fraser groaned. While Dief had flown before and knew the regulations as well as he did, the wolf never failed to get upset with him for the perceived insult of being crated up like a package. As a result, he usually indulged himself by tracking down treats that he wasn't supposed to have, such as the aforementioned ice cream.

The unknown Inspector was surprised at how the brash American just nodded at both Constables and they proceeded to take off without even waiting for an introduction, with Detective Vechio in a wheelchair with Constable Fraser pushing him and Constable Mackenzie walking along side them using crutches. He had read Constable Fraser's file and so knew that the 'furface' that the American referred to must be Constable Fraser's wolf. What he didn't know was why they thought that a simple animal would be able to get himself out of an airline crate much less cause some type of disturbance. He, Inspector Thatcher and Lieutenant Welch followed them, him bewildered by their behavior and Thatcher and Welch resigned.

It turned out that they were correct in their assumption. Diefenbaker had gotten out of his crate as soon as it was unloaded and it had caused a commotion. Or rather, the fact that he was allowing a very young child to pet him had the child's mother screeching up a storm and demanding that security get that wild animal away from her baby. "That is not necessary madam," Fraser assured the mother. To her shock, Fraser walked right up the wild animal that security was afraid of and spoke to him. "Diefenbaker, I know that you are merely being polite to the child but his mother is very concerned."

"In other words Dief, you're about ta give the lady a heart attack. Send the kid back ta his mom before ya get inta any trouble." Ray had followed Fraser and they had both positioned themselves so that Dief and the little boy were between them and the mother. Dief heaved a sigh and pushed the little boy with his nose, not hard enough that he was in danger of toppling over but hard enough that the boy did take a few steps towards his mother. Step by step, Dief herded the child back to his mother at which point he sat down and politely lifted his paw for her to shake.

In shock the woman did so and then took her son by the hand. Satisfied, Dief got up and trotted back over to his humans. Welch didn't need to be fluent in wolf to read his 'told you so' attitude.

Fraser and Ray merely looked at each other and sighed. They both knew that Dief was going to make them pay for doubting him. "It isn't that we doubt your diplomatic abilities," Fraser began as they headed to get their luggage.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

"Gentlemen, life is good," Simon beamed at the men crowded around Buck Wilmington's hospital bed. He leaned back against the wall as there was no place for him to sit down. Team Seven occupied every chair in the room, Blair was busy at the Loft screening secretaries for the Sentinel and Guide Center and Jim was down at the station wrestling the paperwork that the bust had generated. "We not only have half of Jensen's suppliers in custody with so many charges they won't get out from under them for a century, tech squad finally broke Jensen's encryption on his computers. We have a concrete list of everyone he ever worked for, with and against as well as his independent buyers going back fifteen years. Congratulations gentlemen, you just helped to put a major dent in not one but several international crime rings."

"I wonder who won this trip's pool?" Ezra wondered out loud as he endlessly shuffled his deck of cards.

"Johnson, Team Three," Vin said without missing a beat from honing one of his knives.

Chris snorted, "The man had to win sometime."

"Now brother, it isn't nice to make fun of the crippled," Josiah grinned as Nathan snorted coffee out his nose.

"Damn Josiah, don't do that!" he said as he recovered. The rest were to busy laughing at him to help him wipe up the mess. "Private joke," he muttered to Simon who was staring at him in bewilderment.

"Don't worry about it," Chris waved at the laughing hooligans he called a family. "They'll find anything funny right now. We're glad to help Simon. Consider it payback for getting our boys set up."

"Here, here," came from around the room. No matter what their injuries were, or how close some of the close calls had been, seeing Vin and Ezra bonded as Sentinel and Guide had made everything worth it; even knowing that they had added yet another part to their 'travel curse' legend.

"Sandburg tells me that since Vin already has had a lot of training, all he really needed was to find his Guide and learn the specialized techniques that he and Ellison had worked out for police work; evidence protocols, something called piggybacking, and what we as a team needed to look out for. You and your people gave us that and we're really grateful. We'll be headed back for Denver as soon as they release Buck. If you need anything for the case or anything at all, call us. We'll be on the first flight out." Chris got out of the recliner and held out his hand to Simon.

Simon took his hand and was glad to be able to call this man friend. He knew that not only did Sandburg and Ellison need as many Sentinel and Guide teams identified as possible, but the world did as well. If a Sentinel could be found before he or she was driven insane by their senses, they were one and all an asset to the protection of innocent civilians all over the world.

"Same here," he said and meant it, even if dealing with the Magnificent Seven did mean that he had more paperwork to deal with.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

It wasn't until they pulled up at the 27th Precinct that Ray realized that something wasn't just up, it was over the moon. Thatcher showing up (in full uniform no less) with a strange Inspector was one thing, he was probably here because of Maggie. But going to the station house rather than the consulate, and Welsh being jumpy meant that something big was going down. He didn't want to deal with something big. He just wanted to go to the consulate, pick up Fraser's and Diefenbaker's stuff and then go home. He had a bullet hole in his leg, two Sentinels to look after, a pushy wolf hounding his every move to make sure that he followed the doctor's orders, and a move to a two bedroom apartment to plan as he and Fraser had found out that Fraser didn't sleep well if he wasn't in Fraser's sensing range; he did not need anything else to deal with.

"Let's get this over with," he muttered as Fraser pushed him into the madhouse that was known as the 27th Precinct. It was amusing to watch as Maggie and Dief flanked him. He had too many 'Blessed Protectors' at the moment, even if one was a wolf and the other was a Mountie on crutches. The sight of Frannie in tears with a huge smile on her face shocked him out of his thoughts.

"Francesca, is everything alright?" She just grinned at them, not able to speak because of the tears that were still cascading down her face, and waved them into the Lieutenant's office. Fraser had never seen anything get that sort of reaction out of her before and although he was puzzled by it, followed the Lieutenant into his office, still pushing Ray in the wheelchair.

Ray on the other hand, wasn't puzzled by her reaction at all. He had seen it before, on other jobs, maybe not on Frannie's face, but on other people's. There was only one thing that brought that sort of look to a woman's face. So it was no surprise to him to see a bunch of feds standing in Welch's office around an exhausted man of Italian decent. Ray Vechio, the real Ray Vechio, was home.

Vechio was shocked when the small blond woman got between himself and Fraser when Fraser made a move to greet him and Fraser, for some reason known only to him backed off. He was here to see his family one last time and that included Fraser and to say a thank you to the guy that had taken his place for over a year. He didn't know why the lady was practically growling at Fraser, but he had to admit, he liked it. It had been a long time since anyone had tried to protect him, even if it was from his best friend.

One of the feds interrupted, "Ok Vechio, you got to see your family, and your partner, now let's go."

"That will not be happening," Fraser said turning to the fed. "Your services are no longer required. Detective Vechio will no longer be living within your jurisdiction, nor will he ever again be yours to control." Vechio gasped. This wasn't something that he had anticipated. Benny was actually telling off a fed, even if he was polite about it.

"He's going to Canada with me," Maggie said firmly. "As my brother has said, your services are no longer required." Diefenbaker made his wishes known to the feds as well, growling and even going so far as to show his teeth, making sure that he intimidated them right out of the office.

"Brother?" Vechio asked confused as he helped Maggie to sit down on the couch. He sat down next to her and absentmindedly helped her to put her feet up in his lap. The move wasn't unnoticed and everyone, including Frannie (who had gladly locked the door behind the feds when Dief had chased them out) gathered around the couch to tell Vechio what had happened in the time that he had been in Vegas. That included telling the new Inspector about the undercover assignment and the fact that Ray Vechio was Maggie's Guide and Ray Kowalski was Fraser's. It would be two weeks before Maggie and Vechio would be ready to leave for Canada. That meant that there was just enough time for Frannie and Turnbull to get married before they left.

Vechio turned to his sister, "Turnbull?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that bro?" she demanded.

"Not as long as he makes you happy and he takes good care of you sis," he said. The very long explanation had left his head whirling, but several things had settled down as though they were puzzle pieces snapping into place. He had finally met the right woman, she was Fraser's little sister, Fraser looked happier than he had ever seen his friend, his sister was getting married to a Mountie like she always wanted and Kowalski had taken care of his family for him, which made him ok in Vechio's book. To Ray Vechio, nothing was more important than his family, and if he was really lucky one day he would be able to convince the lovely lady next to him to make his best friend his brother in law. Life was good, even if he did have to move to Canada.

The End


End file.
